The Wrong Sister Taken
by jaspershero16
Summary: The Source's plan to kill a Charmed One succeeded. But did he get what he wanted? The Halliwell sisters have always had to deal with loss, but this time it hit home. The remaining Halliwell sisters have to find a way to carry on and face their destiny. How will they do it without their backbone? They'll lean on each other, some new faces, and old faces. The Power of Three is back!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1-The Night Before**

It had been a whole week since the day that Shax attacked and changed the Halliwell's lives forever. The Charmed Ones had survived so much and now this is where they were. A sister had been lost, a life had been stolen, and two families had been torn apart.

"This can't be happening", a woman with long brown hair stated as she looked in the mirror. "I don't know what to do without her. What did I do wrong? Why do I have to bury my sister today?!" As she punched the mirror, another woman walked into the room.

"Prue?"

"Phoebe. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up."

Phoebe walked towards her older sister with a look of concern. She knew that Prue was mad because she hadn't been able to save their sister. She had tried her hardest to make her understand that she was not able to change fate or control the flow of people's lives.

"It's not your fault." Phoebe felt like she had said this a million times, but she had to say it until it sank into her sister's head.

"Of course it is! Phoebe, I was right there with her. Shax attacked both of us and I couldn't even help my sister! How can this not be my fault!"

"Prue, you can't keep doing this to yourself. Piper is gone and we need to take the time to grieve her! You're not the only one that's hurting! She was my sister too!"

Piper had always been the one that kept her sisters in line. That had never been more evident than now. Prue and Phoebe had learned to get along since becoming witches, but lately it seemed like all they did was fight. Cole was the biggest problem that was coming between them. And it didn't help that Phoebe was away from her sisters so that she could save Cole. Phoebe wanted to talk to her sister about that, but she knew this wasn't the time.

"You're right. I'm sorry.", Prue stated as she put her head down. "I just don't know what to do. I can't believe she's actually gone. My little sister is gone and there's nothing I could do to stop it. At least when Grams died, we knew she had been sick and we had each other. Now, it just feels like our family is moving into extinction. We're supposed to be "Charmed" Phoebe, and it feels like the only thing our family is charmed at is dying."

Phoebe embraced her sister while holding back tears of her own. She could see how much Prue was hurting.

"Come on. We have to at least try to get some sleep. You know Piper would kill us if she thought we weren't taking care of ourselves."

Prue laughed to herself. She knew Phoebe was right. She could imagine Piper making her go to bed and coming to check on her every few minutes and make sure she was resting. That was Piper, always making sure that the people she loved were taken care of. Prue couldn't believe that she had to remember her sister and try to keep her in her memories. She realized that she was being selfish. She could see how much Phoebe was hurting, but didn't know what to say to her. She had been so caught up in her grief that she had forgotten about what Phoebe must be feeling. And God only knows about Leo….

The sisters walked to their respective rooms and gave each other a thoughtful look as they closed their doors.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2-The Beginning of Goodbye**

The day started very differently for the Halliwell sisters. Instead of being met by the smell of freshly baked muffins and breakfast on the table, Prue and Phoebe woke up to a quiet home and the realization that today was the day they truly said goodbye to their sister. They each started the day off with different tasks however.

Prue started the day as she has started every day for the past week. She sat in her fallen sister's room and stared at her things. She felt that she could keep Piper alive if only she could focus on her things and find the right magic. As she sat on the bed, she moved her finger and a key levitated to her and landed directly in the center of her palm. She stared at the key and thought of the club that she owned along with her sisters. She hadn't had the courage to go to P3 since she lost her sister. She knew that she would have to eventually, but she couldn't bring herself to go. Just as she thought of how much P3 meant to Piper, she couldn't bear the thought of it and jumped up. She ran to take a shower so that she could take her mind off of things.

Phoebe started her day by doing something unusual. She was used to sitting alone and grieving her sister. Prue hadn't been able to get past her own grief long enough to realize that others were hurting and needed a shoulder to lean on. She cries as she thinks about how happy her happy her sister had been at her wedding only a few months earlier.

As she thought on her sister's former happiness, she lit several candles. As she cut her finger, she began to chant aloud.

"Powers of the witches rise, course unseen across the skies, come to us who call you near, come to us and settle here. Blood to blood, I summon thee, blood to blood, return to me."

The flame of the candle began to move as if caught in a wind. Phoebe became optimistic until the flame ceased to flicker. Phoebe laid her head on the desk and shed a tear.

"Phoebe."

Phoebe quickly lifted her head to see who was calling for her.

"Leo.", she whimpered as she lifted her head. This was the first time she had seen her whitelighter, and Piper's husband, since the attack. He had gone to the heavens and stayed there, unable to face the home he shared with his wife and the stillness of halls that he once wished to fill with the sound of a happy family. He only came back today so that he could attend the service for his wife.

"Phoebe, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to leave you. I just couldn't bear it…..I'm so…."

Phoebe hugged him and let him know that it was laright. He didn't have to apologize as far as she was concerned. She understood the pain that he was feeling and knew the urge to run and not return. She had seriously considered leaving just like she did after Grams died. The only difference was that she had something to stay for this time. She had a real relationship with her sister no matter how selfish she was being right now.

"Its ok Leo. I promise."

After these words and a brief exchange, Leo decided to check on Prue.

"I think she needs it right now Leo. I'm not sure that she knows how to handle this or that she even wants to try. See if you can talk some sense into her, please."

After Leo left the room, Cole shimmered in and looked around nervously. Phoebe leapt up to hug him! She wasn't sure if he would have been able to fight off the bounty hunters long enough to attend the funeral, but she was glad he at least came.

"I didn't think you would make it!", Phoebe exclaimed as she held the face of the man who had captured her heart.

"There's no way I would leave you alone today of all days.", Cole stated in a soft, concerned voice. "I stayed away because I didn't want to lead them straight to us. You have enough to deal with, demons should not be on your list."

Suddenly, Prue and Leo entered the room.

"What the hell are you doing here?", Prue asked with fury in her eyes.

"He's here for me, which is something that I need today. He's here because he wants to support our family.", Phoebe stated firmly to her big sister. Prue was an intimidating force, so standing up to her was a challenge that Phoebe did not take on without a bit of caution.

With a raised brow and an unwavering gaze, Prue stated, "My sister loves you. That's the only reason that I haven't vanquished you. If you make so much as a peep today, I will not hesitate to make sure you burn in the eternal fire you deserve."

No one in the room had the courage to question her, so they chose to leave it alone for their own safety. Prue led the way to the thing they had all been dreading: the longest goodbye they'll every experience.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The service was full. Piper had known so many people and touched so many lives. It was unbelievable how many people were there. It was made even more amazing by the fact that only a small portion of the people were innocents they saved over the years. That meant the room was full with people that Piper had befriended and come to love.

Prue, Phoebe, Leo, Cole, and Victor took their seats. Victor had just come back into his daughters' lives and he was already having to say goodbye to one of them. He had always been full of fear and dread that this day would come. It was like saying goodbye to Patty all over again.

A fellow witch lead the ceremony. She lit the most beautiful white candle any of them had ever seen. It was only fitting that a person with such a beautiful soul have a candle to match. The witch in white lit the candle and then two more. As she stood before the crowded room, she spoke about the cyclic nature of life and how it never truly ends, only shifts to another plane. As she spoke, she blew out the flame of each candle until she met the last. With a sorrowful look and a heartfelt smile, she blew out the flame of the remaining candle. Prue held Victor and Leo as Phoebe was being held by Cole.

After the service, Prue, Phoebe, Leo, and Victor greeted everyone and accepted their condolences. As the line grew shorter, a young woman with jet black hair stood in line. She almost left, but had come too far to leave now.

"Hi. I don't think I know you. But you look so familiar.", Phoebe stated as she greeted the familiar stranger. "How did you know Piper?"

"Just from around.", the dark-haired stranger stated nervously.

As Phoebe shook her hand, a powerful feeling came over her. It was a premonition, but the strongest one she had ever had.

*In her vision, Phoebe saw the dark-haired girl on top of a rooftop. Suddenly, the demon who stole Piper's life appeared. He saw the girl and immediately threw one of his powerful attacks at her*

The vision was so overwhelming that she fell to the floor and had to take deep breaths to collect herself. As her family rushed to her, the dark haired girl slipped away.

"What happened? Was it a vision?", Prue asked her sister as she helped her up.

In a breathless panic and with obvious emotion, Phoebe responded, " I saw the demon that killed Piper. He was on a roof. He attacked that girl."

As Phoebe looked around for the young woman, a demon appeared out of nowhere! In a split second, an energy ball materialized in his hand. Before he could throw it, Prue used her power to fling him across the room into a pedestal that held a vase. The energy ball he planned to throw was flung at him with such an intensity that you could see the pain on his face as he was vanquished.

Prue was obviously mad, there was no denying that. As everyone stood in shock at her display, she screamed as loud as she could, "NOT TODAY! IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN TODAY! SHE GAVE HER LIFE FIGHTING THEM AND NOW WE CAN'T EVEN BURY HER IN PEACE!"

As Prue yelled, objects around her began to fly from their placements. Everyone ducked as vases, flowers, chairs and anything else that could move were thrown about. Prue rushed out of the mausoleum and left.

Victor, visibly shaken, asked what just happened. Leo explained that a witch's powers are tied to their emotions. Prue was in a very unstable state right now, which made her a ticking time bomb. Phoebe thought back to right after they received their powers and Prue threw everything off of the shelves in the store they were in. If Prue did that when she first got her powers, imagine how much damage they could do after three years.

After leaving, Prue pulled up to P3. She didn't know if she could face it, but she couldn't go home. She couldn't face everyone and she certainly couldn't be in the spot where her sister died. She went up to the door and it seemed like it took every ounce of energy she had to turn the key. As she walked in, she could almost feel Piper's presence. She thought back to when she and Phoebe gave Piper the check to start the club. It made her feel good to think back on her sister being so happy. It almost felt normal being there…..almost.

"I have to see her. Or at least know she's alright. I can't go on like this anymore."

Prue went to the back of the club and got the emergency candles that she Piper kept in the office. She laughed as she remembered Piper putting them there after Prue had given her a pair of tennis shoes in case a demon attacked. She was glad that Piper had listened to her, but it didn't mean anything now.

As Prue put the candles down in a circle, she thought to herself, "If I don't know that she's alright, I'll go crazy."

" _Hear these words, hear my cry, spirit from the other side, come to me, I summon thee, cross now, the Great Divide."_

A group of shimmering white orbs appeared and surrounded a woman's outline. Prue's heart raced.

"Grams?'

The Halliwell sisters' grandmother appeared before Prue with a look of concern on her face.

"Hello my darling.", Grams uttered as her astral form stood before Prue.

"Grams, I love you, but I didn't call for you.", Prue stated with a look of anger on her face.

"I know dear, but I intercepted your call. I don't think that you're ready to see her right now."

"Not ready to see her? Grams, I have waited and waited to see my sister because I needed to be ready. I'm ready now."

"Sweetheart, you're not ready.", Grams stated in the sweetest voice she could muster. "If you see her now and speak to her, you won't be able to move on. You'll be stuck to a memory. You won't be able to move on to your destiny.

"Grams, I know that you're trying your hardest to look out for me and I appreciate that. But if you think for one minute that a derailed destiny is on my mind right now, you are way off base. If you won't let me talk to my sister, I promise I will come up there and it won't be pretty."

Just then, a second string of orbs appeared. Prue fell to her knees in disbelief. It was like the wind had been knocked out of her.

"A..An…Andy?", Prue whimpered with the little breath that hadn't left her lungs.

"Prue", Andy said in a strong, concentrated voice, "your Grams is right. Now isn't the time."

"But Andy, I can't do this without her. I can't. Did she tell you to come to me? Is that why you're here?"

"No Prue, she didn't. I wanted to prove a point to you. After all these years, you can barely handle seeing me. Imagine what it would do to you to see her right now."

"You always did know how to show me up."

Prue could barely believe that she was talking to Andy. Her first true love was standing in front of her and she didn't know what to do. Her heart still skipped a beat when he talked to her. It was like she was 16 all over again. Things had changed though. She wasn't the same person and he wasn't even alive. He was right though, she wasn't ready. She'd never admit it to him, but she saw his point.

"I'm not going to give up. But I'll stop if it means I win next time Mr. Trudeau."

Andy laughed. He knew he could make Prue see things she was blinded to, but he still had a soft spot for her. He couldn't bear to see her in this much pain.

"My darling", Grams said with a smile, "I'll let Piper know you love her. She won't forget about you just like you won't forget her. But you need this time to clear your head for what's ahead. I love you my darling."

With that, Andy and Grams disappeared in a flash of pure white orbs. Prue put her face in her hands and sobbed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4-On the Lookout**

Phoebe and her family paced around the living room. It had been hours since they had heard from Prue and they were scared she had done something reckless. Phoebe was almost ready to summon her sister. She felt like she did when astral Prue ruined Piper's wedding and ran away with the guy on the motorcycle. Just as Leo and Cole were about to search for Prue, she burst through the front door. Phoebe rushed to her sister and gave her the biggest hug she possibly could.

"Don't ever do that to me again.", Phoebe screamed as she held her sister in an embrace.

"Where did you go?", Victor asked his daughter.

"That's not important. What is important is that I went back to the mausoleum and found something the girl earlier dropped. I thought maybe Phoebe could get a premonition from it or we could scry for her."

Everyone in the room was shocked. They couldn't believe that Prue was insinuating they should be looking for this innocent. Phoebe could understand because something inside of her wanted to go and find this girl, but she knew that Prue was not ready for this and that she needed to be there for Prue when she broke down.

"I don't think that we should be focusing on this. I mean, my wife isn't even warm in her grave yet.", Leo stated with a stern look.

"I know that Leo, but something about this girl is different. Phoebe, when you have a premonition, it's because there's something that we're supposed to change or see. I don't think that this is any different. We have to do this."

Phoebe was enraged. She could see that Leo was hurting, their father was hurting, and she was hurting, yet all Prue cared about was an innocent. Suddenly, she couldn't contain the rage that had been building inside of her for weeks.

"No!", Phoebe yelled much to the surprise of everyone in the room. "I won't do it! Prue, we buried our sister today and you run off and then come back to tell us that you want to chase the demon that took her from us in the first place?! I don't know if you've noticed or not, but there's pain in this room Prue, real pain. We can't turn it off or distract ourselves from it like you can. So no, I won't do it."

Prue, obviously shaken murmured, "But Phoebe, we're still the Charmed Ones."

"No we're not Prue! The Charmed Ones are a trio. I only see two of us. Piper isn't on vacation, she's not going to come back through that door to see if we could make it without her. She's gone, really gone and I don't know if you don't realize it or if you just want to do anything you possibly can to join her!"

Phoebe ran upstairs with Cole close behind her. No one could believe that she had blown up like that. They knew it was a trying time, but Phoebe loved being a witch and would do anything to help an innocent. It wasn't like her to want to leave something like this alone, especially when she had foreseen it happening in the first place.

Prue was going to go after her baby sister, but Leo stopped her.

"I know she needs time right now Leo, but I have to go after her."

"It's not that.", Leo stated. "She's right. You're not being considerate of how everyone else is feeling. You're so focused on yourself that you've become blind to the fact that you're not the only one that's grieving. Prue, I had to see my wife dead not once, but twice. Do you really think that I want to see this happen again?"

Prue had forgotten that time had apparently been reset. She didn't remember it, but it explained why Leo and Phoebe were gone when Shax attacked. It hadn't occurred to her that Leo was hurting this much.

Before she could apologize, Leo broke down and orbed out of the room. She didn't know where he was going, but she knew she wouldn't see him for a while.

As Prue stood in shock at the empty room, her father came to her and hugged her.

"I know I don't know much about this magic stuff, and I may not have powers, but I know that you have to do this and I want to support you."

The Halliwell sisters had never had a great relationship with their father. It was only recently that he even came back into their lives. When Prue thought of trustworthy and supportive, Victor didn't exactly pop into her mind. She knew that he was missing Piper more than anyone because he barely knew her as an adult or as his daughter. He didn't like anything that had to do with magic, so it meant a lot that he was willing to do this with her.

"Thank you daddy.", Prue stated as she gave her father a hug. "The problem is that I don't know where to begin in finding this girl. I mean, I don't actually the building in Phoebe's vision and I don't know if I can scry for her because she may not be a witch."

"What did Phoebe say the building and the surrounding buildings look like?", her father asked.

Prue described the building to the best of her ability and suddenly her father figured it out.

"That's the old building down on 6th street. I used to work in one of the offices there."

Victor had impressed Prue by helping her to figure out which building it might be and by just being there for her. This wouldn't be easy for either one of them, but it would be better for them to work together. Maybe Victor would be able to mend his relationship with daughters. Just maybe.


	5. A Strange Beginning

**Chapter 5- A Strange Beginning**

The dark-haired girl was sitting in a club with a young man. He was talking to her and realized that she wasn't paying attention to him at all.

"Uh, earth to Paige, paging Paige."

Startled, Paige dropped the pen that she was using to draw on a napkin.

"Sorry Shane, I just had a lot on my mind I guess."

Shane and Paige had only been dating for a month, but she really felt that she could trust him. She had not had a lot of luck in the dating department. In fact, it seemed like she had a talent for picking the wrong guy every time.

"So…. You never told me where you went today. Wherever it was, it must have been pretty heavy. You've barely talked to me since yesterday.", Shane said, obviously concerned about Paige.

"If I told you about it, you would probably think I was crazy."

"Paige, you told me a story you made up about some weird lady from the middle ages that could control wind and lightning. I don't think anything you say can really get much weirder than that."

Paige giggled. "You're right I guess. Well, I went to a funeral."

Puzzled, Shane said, "I thought you were out of your goth stage."

"It's not that.", Paige stated in a subdued tone. She didn't want to share this, but she felt that he wouldn't judge her too hard. "I went to Piper Halliwell's funeral. She and her sisters own that club, P3, that we've been going to for the past few weeks."

"Oh, that explains why we couldn't go there. They must not have reopened it, if they do that is. So why did you go to her funeral? I've never heard you mention her before."

"Ok, here goes. And if you laugh, I will end you. There was a point in time where I thought that I may have been related to the Halliwells. I had been researching some possible leads and everything kept leading me to them. That's why I started coming to this club and why I started reading 415 again. I just wanted to feel close to them I guess. I almost talked to them one night, but I couldn't muster up the courage. When I did a little more research, I found out that their mom died years ago. I didn't know what to say to them. I mean, do I go up to them in a semi-lit club and say "Hey, I think your mom abandoned me at birth. What's for dinner?" So, I just kind of let it go. I know how stupid that sounds."

"It doesn't sound stupid.", Shane stated in the gentlest tone he could. "It sounds like you're a human being that's looking for the place they belong. There's nothing wrong with that."

Shane cusped Paige's cheek and kissed her deeply.

"Don't hurt me, ok.", Paige whispered as the kiss ended. She had always had trust issues with guys. She never really knew why, but she was always scared that they would leave or embarrass her somehow. She knew that some of it probably came from her losing her parents, but that was a can of worms that she was not prepared to open right now.

Paige motioned to Shane and led him out of the club so that she could take him to her favorite spot in the city. She turned around before leaving and grabbed the napkin with her drawing from earlier. She felt like she needed to keep it for some reason. She didn't know what the strange shape was, but she knew that it was important to her. The pieces that met up in the middle of the circle made her feel connected to something, but she didn't know what…yet.

Prue and Victor arrived to the building that was directly across from the building Victor described earlier. Prue was happy that she was able to share this time with her father, but she wished that her sister had been here with her.

"I guess that she'll show up soon. I hope anyway.", Prue said as she brushed her hand over her face.

"Sweetheart, when was the last time you slept?". Victor could tell that his daughter was tired. He knew that she probably hasn't slept for a full night since Piper died.

"Really? Why try to be a dad now?" Prue realized what she said. She didn't even mean it. She was tired and still wasn't used to Victor trying to look out for her. It was different and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. "I'm sorry dad. There's just been a lot going on and I guess I'm taking it out on you."

Victor understood how she was feeling because he had been going through the same thing. He was trying his hardest to be there for his daughters, but he had no idea what he was doing. Not only had he not been there for them as a father, he had no idea how to handle all the magic in his daughters' lives and the demons that came with it. The danger his girls faced everyday was the very thing that he was afraid of when they were growing up. He knew that one day they would have to face their destiny. Penny tried to tell him, but he ignored her. He hated himself for missing out on his children's lives because of his fears.

Prue and Victor embraced, while Paige and Shane walked out onto the roof.

"Showtime sweetheart.", Victor told his daughter as they turned to see how things would unfold with their innocent.

"Look at the stars Shane! Aren't they beautiful? They make me feel so uninhibited."

As Paige started a sexy dance for Shane, Shax appeared in a whirlwind. Paige didn't know why, but she felt like she had to protect Shane instead of waiting on him to protect her.

"Shane RUN!"

Shax threw a powerful attack at Paige and Shane that hit Shane as he ran away and threw him into the wall behind them. Shax threw another attack with all the power that he could muster! As the attack flew from Shax's hand, Paige threw her hands up and she disappeared in a swirl of white lights! When she returned, Shax was stunned to see that not only had she orbed, but his attack was frozen in midair!

Paige and Shane ran down the stairs as fast as they could, but Shax cut them off. As Shax threw another attack, it went flying right back at him. As he stood dazed, Astral Prue recited the vanquishing spell. " _Evil wind that blows, that which forms below, no longer may you dwell, death takes you with this spell!"_. Shax disappeared in a puff of air. Prue told Paige and Shane to meet them outside. When she came to in the other building, she told her father how handy it came in that she could control her telekinesis in astral mode now. Prue and Victor met Paige and Shane outside.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!", Paige screamed.

"Look, I know that this is really weird, but you and your boyfriend here need to follow me.". Prue could be pushy sometimes, but for some reason, she felt like she needed to keep this innocent close to her and protect her.

"I don't know what you are or what just happened, but if you think for one second that I'm going with you, then you must be as crazy as you think I am."

Prue was somewhat impressed. People didn't tend to stand up to her like that. She was mad because she knew that it would only be a matter of time before Shax came back, but she felt a strange familiar feeling fighting with this girl. She knew she must be losing her mind and that she was completely tired, so she wasn't sure what she was feeling right now.

"I know that you have a lot of questions. And I know that your first instinct is to get as far away from me and this whole situation as soon as you can, but you and skinny need to come with me now. Think about it for a second, if he comes back, what exactly are you going to do to protect yourself?"

Paige relented. She didn't know why Prue Halliwell was standing in front of her trying to get her to go with her, but she knew she was too scared to question it.

Paige, Shawn, Prue, and Victor arrived back at the manor.

"Phoebe!", Prue yelled as she burst into the manor.

Phoebe came rushing down the stairs after hearing her sister yell.

"Prue, are you….Oh my God. You're the girl from earlier. But Prue, how did you find her?"

"That's doesn't matter right now. What matters is that Shax tried to kill her and I want to know why. And Phoebe, she orbed."

"Wait, she what? So, you're a whitelighter?"

Paige was so confused by everything that was going on. She didn't know what was happening and she really just wanted to go home. Plus, Shane was hurt and they needed to get him to a hospital to get him some help.

"I don't know what that is, but if it had anything to do with what happened earlier, I really don't want anything to do with it. My boyfriend is hurt and I need to make sure he's ok."

Before Paige could finish what she was saying, Prue yelled, "LEO!"

Leo orbed in and was taken aback by how crowded the manor was. "What's going on?" Leo asked with a confused look.

"Less talking, more healing. It's been a weird night and I'll fill you in later.", Prue stated as she pulled Leo by the arm to Shane. Leo went to heal Shawn, but didn't see any scratches on him. "I can't heal him if there's nothing wrong with him Prue. How do you feel Shawn?"

Shawn passed out before he could answer Leo's question.

"Leo, orb him to the hospital. I know I'm not your favorite person right now, but we need to make sure that he's ok. We'll figure out how we need to help Paige while you're gone.". Prue may not know how to sympathize with others some times, but she knows what she needs to do in a crisis.

Paige looked over at Leo and proclaimed, "I don't know what you're doing with him, but wherever he goes, I go."

Leo knew that he couldn't risk it and orbed out without saying so much as a word to Paige.

"Well damn. Usually, people at least look twice when I get feisty like that."

"It's not personal, I think he's just used to it.", Prue proclaimed.

"Ok, can someone please tell me what's going on?", a confused Phoebe asked.

"Basically, our friend Paige here was trying to have a little fun with her boyfriend on the rooftop. Well, as you can imagine, Shax wasn't having it and attacked them. Then she orbed and I think, I can't be sure, but I think she froze his attack." Prue stated as she updated her sister.

"When you say froze, do you mean like…"

"Yep. Like Piper."

Phoebe didn't know what to think. She didn't know of another witch that had Piper's power. She wasn't even sure that it was a common power. It was sort of like hers, she had never met another witch that had premonitions. She tried to wrap her head around what was happening.

As they moved closer towards the middle of the room, she remembered that Paige had no idea who she was.

"By the way, I'm Phoebe."

Once she grabbed Paige's hand, a brilliant blue light shined down from the chandelier and surrounded the three women. The chandelier shook as if there was an immense power emanating from it.

"Ok. Well, that's never happened before.", Prue quipped.

Just then, Shax blew through the door with a mighty gust of wind that knocked the women down! He threw Victor into the living room with a mighty wind and stared right at the Charmed Ones! Paige was mortified and would not let go of Phoebe's arm, and she seemed to be frozen in fear! After sending Shax's attack right back at him, Prue told Phoebe that they needed to say the spell to fend him off.

In unison, Phoebe and Prue chanted, " _EVIL WIND THAT BLOWS! THAT WHICH FORMS BELOW! NO LONGER MAY YOU DWELL! DEATH TAKES YOU WITH THIS SPELL!"_

Instead of turning into a puff of wind, Shax had a look of agony on his face and proceeded to explode into what seemed like a million pieces in front of the sisters!

"Did we just vanquish Shax?", Phoebe asked as she looked to Prue for answers.

"I think we did. But how? It takes the Power of three to vanquish him."

Suddenly, they realized that Paige was still holding on to Phoebe as she had been doing while they recited the spell. But did that have anything to do with what just happened? Surely not. There's no way. For that to have happened, she would have to be their…. no. It couldn't be. Could this girl really be a Charmed One? Could she really be, their sister?

Prue squinted her eyes suspiciously at Paige and uttered, "Who the hell are you exactly?"

Paige, still shaken, stood up and screamed, "Whatever I am, you're worse! What the hell are you people?" With that, Paige ran as fast as her legs would take her. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew that it needed to be far away from there.

Phoebe and Prue were still in shock. As their father came to, they knew that they needed answers, and there was only one person that could answer them.

"To the Book it is. I'll get the answers we need if it's the last thing I do.", Prue ranted as she ran towards the attic, towards the Book. It seemed like she always ended up there. It almost gave her purpose. If anyone could get their questions answered, it was her.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6-The Answer**

"Prue, slow down!", a breathless Phoebe yelled.

"No. I'm not slowing down. This ends now."

Phoebe was just as confused as Prue was right now, but she didn't have time to process it. It was as if her mind was racing 100 miles an hour and there was nothing she could do to slow it down. Had they really vanquished Shax? Why did the chandelier glow like that? Could that girl really be related to them? Whatever answers they needed, she had a sneaking suspicion that Prue was about to get them.

"Prue. What exactly is it that you're going to do?". Victor hadn't been in the old attic in decades. It was just as dark and creepy as he remembered it, but could feel the traces of life that the girls brought to it. It felt like it was missing something, and he knew that something had to be Piper. He also knew that now wasn't the time to reminisce.

"Grams told me something about not being able to move on if I saw Piper, so she has to know something. She was always a terrible liar."

"Wait, when did you talk to Grams? You tried to summon Piper? Prue, what's going on?", Phoebe asked as she tried to understand where her sister was going with this.

"I'll explain in a minute. Or Grams will. Whoever gets to it first. _Hear these words, Hear my cry, Spirit from the other side, Come to me, I summon thee, Cross now the Great Divide."_

A brilliant wisp of white lights surrounded the figure that appeared before them.

"Prue, we already talked about thi…Phoebe? Cole? Vi-, VICTOR? I can make sense of everyone else, but why are you here?", Grams quipped in her usual sarcastic tone.

"Good to see you too Penny."

As Victor and Grams shared a piercing glance, Prue took control of the conversation and stated her purpose for bringing her grandmother back to this plane.

"Grams, we just fought Shax. You know, the demon that killed our sister? Usually, we can only fend him off, but tonight we vanquished him."

With a look of confusion, Grams replied, "Well darling that's a good thing! Maybe now you can get some closure!". Grams knew it wasn't that easy. She had studied the book inside and out when she was alive and knew that an upper level demon like Shax took the Power of Three to vanquish. She didn't know if she was ready for this, but here it was.

Prue wasn't fooled by her grandmother's façade. "Grams, it's been a long week and I really don't have time for games. You and I both know that vanquishing a demon like Shax takes extra juice that we don't have right now. So, either spill the beans or I'll shake you until you do."

"Don't you take that tone with me young lady. Just because I'm dead doesn't give you the right to-"

"Can you please just talk about whatever it is Prue is trying to get around to Grams?". Phoebe was at her wits end and couldn't take much more of this.

"I can't."

"Why not", everyone in the room asked simultaneously.

"Because I can't. I took an oath. An oath that can only be broken by death itself! Well, I already crossed that bridge, but you know what I mean. Figures of speech and all."

"Who could you have made an oath to that wouldn't transcend death? The jig is up on your end.", Prue asked.

"Me. She made an oath to me."

"MOM?!", Prue and Phoebe gasped at the same time. As Patty's form appeared before them, Prue and Phoebe let out long, deep breaths and held their faces in disbelief. After Piper's wedding, they didn't know when the next time they would see their mother was. They never expected in a million years to stand in front of their dead mother after losing their sister.

"Mother and I promised that we would take this secret to our graves. I guess we succeeded in a way.", Patty quipped. The humor in this could only be appreciated by Grams who was a ghost, and Cole who was a demon. Phoebe shot Cole a look that let him know he should probably keep his giggles to himself.

"After your father and I split up, I was…..Oh.". Patty hadn't noticed Victor in the room when she first arrived. "Victor, what are you doing here?"

"That's what I said.", Grams muttered under her breath.

Prue, ready to get on with it, firmly stated, "Forget Dad. Focus, mom, focus."

"Sorry dear. Well after Victor and I, I decided to be with Sam."

"I knew it! All those times you told me you were just going to talk about work or he needed to "heal" you, or you had to help him with another innocent of his. I knew it. Patty, how could you do this?". Victor and Patty had a very long, unresolved history. He was hurt to hear that all of his suspicions were true. After all these years, it was like his heart was being pulled out of his chest.

"Victor, this is hardly the time.", Grams stated in a matter-of-fact tone that the Halliwell women were famous for.

"Mom, no. He's right." Patty knew that she was going to hurt everyone in the room when she shared her story, and she knew this wasn't the time to atone for her mistakes, but she had to try with him. He had given her the only thing she every truly wanted for herself and her daughters: normalcy, and she was disrespecting that by sharing this story in front of him.

"Victor,", Patty whispered in her calm, soothing voice, "I know that I hurt you. And I know that you are going to spend a lot of time after this hating me. But I think that it's imperative that you know this. I love you with everything I am, or was. I'm not good with tenses. We didn't work out because of the magic in my life, and I thought that maybe it was only an obstacle for you. I convinced myself that I could make things better and give things a real shot with Sam. It was nothing against you, I was just lonely and he loved me just as much as you did. I loved you both and I was just a person trying to make sense of the life that was put in front of me. Right now, I need to share this with our daughters though. They need to know that I was human, just like them, and that I made mistakes. I have to explain to them how my life choices are still affecting them now."

Although his soul felt like a raging tide and his heart was crushed, the only thing he could muster to say was, "Understood."

Patty shifted her gaze and her attention back on her daughters.

"When I was with Sam, we tried our hardest to make it work. We just wanted to be a normal couple who loved each other. Obviously though, we couldn't be. We had to keep our love a secret. Before Piper and Leo, a whitelighter and a witch would have never even dreamed of being together, let alone…..". Patty hesitated.

"Let alone, what?", Prue asked.

"I found out one day that I was pregnant. With Sam's child."

The room went silent. No one could believe that they were hearing this. Patty Halliwell, the mother of the Charmed Ones, was standing in front of her two remaining daughters saying that she had another child.

"How could you have hidden that?", Phoebe asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"You girls thought that mommy had just gotten a little fat.", Patty stated as she tried to explain herself.

"I don't buy it." Prue, as always, was ready to challenge this until it made sense to her. "I can see you fooling Piper and Phoebe, but I would've been almost 10 when this happened. How could I not know it? And why would I not remember something like that?"

Grams, in a deadpan tone, asked Prue, "Well darling, how could you not remember being able to move things with your mind as a child?"

"I've never really understood that, but good point. Continue.". Prue was confused by this, but knew when to let go.

"When I had the baby, I knew…We knew, the best thing was to give her up for adoption. Sam and I took her to a local church and found a nun to find our daughter the perfect home."

"We were so afraid that there would be serious repercussions.", Grams interjected. "We didn't know if you girls would be denied your powers or if your mother would be punished. There were so many uncertainties."

"So that girl really is our sister?", Prue asked bluntly.

"Yes.", Patty replied.

"Well, your half-sister.", Grams stated.

Patty looked at her mother with a look of irritation on her face. "Yes, she's a half-sister, but by my half. Which makes her a sister witch. And another Charmed One. That's why you were able to vanquish Shax. The Power of Three has been reconstituted."

Phoebe was at her limit. She was grieving her sister and trying to do it on her own since the only other person who could understand was more interested in chasing demons.

Phoebe finally erupted and screamed, "So you mean that after all these years of us having to figure this whole "witch thing" out on our own, we had another sister just floating around out there? Grams how could you keep this from us? Mom couldn't tell us, but my God Grams, YOU RAISED US! Everything that you ever told us is a lie. You taught us to love each other and believe in ourselves and be true to who we were! I got past you lying about our powers because you were trying to protect us, but we have another sister, ANOTHER SISTER, and the only reason we found out was because Piper died. What if she hadn't died? Hmmm? Would you two really have let us go through our entire lives believing that we were the only three kids mom left behind? Well, of course you would have! That was the plan the whole time! How selfish can you be?!"

Phoebe ran out of the room with uncontrollable tears rushing down her face.

Victor ran after Phoebe, but turned around and looked at his ex-wife and ex mother-in-law one last time. "I always knew this would happen. Magic would destroy our daughters' lives. And look at where we are now. I hope the two of you are happy."

Grams and Patty gave each other disappointed looks. Phoebe was right. It had been their intention to keep this from the girls. Cole and Victor ran out, which left only Prue.

Patty looked at her daughter and knew that she needed to choose her next words very carefully.

"Sweetheart are you alright?"

"Am I alright? Mom, you're dead, not stupid. NO, I am not alright. Phoebe is upset, Piper is dead and I'm trying as hard as I can! I can't do this!"

Patty tried to reach for her daughter, but Prue waved her hand to knock her mother's hand away. Suddenly, a bright orange light came from her hand and destroyed half of the attic! Her mother and grandmother disappeared in the same white lights they appeared in. Prue was shocked at what she had done. That blast looked just like the blast that came from her hand when she went into the future. She had seen what her power would grow into, but that future was too far away for her power to have grown that soon. Never backing down from a challenge, Prue wanted to know if this was the case. She looked at a table across the room and waved her hand again. As soon as she did, a bright, orange light came from her hand and destroyed the table and everything surrounding it!

Prue was happy her power had grown, but it was bittersweet. The last time she had seen her power like this, Piper had been with her. This time, there was no Piper. It was just her. Alone. Like always. Prue seemed to always lose people. She wasn't like Piper and Phoebe, she didn't have a husband or boyfriend to come after her. Even their dad went to Phoebe. Prue stood in the middle of the destroyed attic and quietly sobbed.

Suddenly, Victor came to the door.

"Baby girl, I don't know what happened up here, but I know that I need to be here with you."

Prue, with tears rushing down her face, looked up at her father. "What about Phoebe? You need to be with her."

"Cole is with her. Prue, you don't have to do this alone. You're the oldest, but that doesn't mean you need to handle things on your own and it doesn't mean you don't deserve to have someone with you."

"But you have to be hurting way more than me. After everything Mom and Grams just told us, I can't imagine how you must feel."

"Sweetheart, no one person's pain is greater than another's. I've had years to deal with what happened between me and your mother. You have right here and now. It's ok sweetie."

Prue's face fell in into her father's chest as she sobbed. It felt like her knees were buckling under the pressure she had put on herself and she and her father fell to the ground as she cried. The two sat in the middle of the rubble that was once the attic as Prue finally faced the loneliness that she had run from for so long.

"It's alright baby girl, let it out."

Prue looked at her father and finally felt what she had spent her life trying to make everyone else feel. Safe.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7-A Broken plan**

"Reveal yourself."

A demon in a tattered, dusty, ancient black robe that drug the floor, walked towards a pedestal. The man's presence was truly terrifying. He stood 6'5 and carried scars on half of his face, while runes and symbols covered the other.

"I SAID REVEAL YOURSELF ORACLE!"

Suddenly, a beautiful woman dressed in long, white, silk robes appeared before him. Before her was a large crystal ball that covered half of her body as she lay on the stone pedestal.

"Yes, my liege.", the woman stated with her head bowed.

"You have deceived me you treacherous woman. You have shown me a future that did not happen."

"My liege, I apologize. The future that I foresaw was much different than this. With such powerful magical forces at play, there is no telling how things could change at any moment's notice." The woman was obviously nervous, but she held a confidence that was evident in the way she spoke. She knew what her role was and she knew that she played it very well.

"It doesn't matter how powerful these forces are. You told me you saw the death of the eldest Charmed One. My plan is ruined because of you!"

"If I may, my liege, we still have time. Those magical 48 hours when a witch can be swayed to either side. An agreement made between both sides eons ago. Free will may be our last chance."

As the Oracle finished, the demon in black wrapped his hands around her neck.

"I will give you one chance, and one chance only. If this fails, I will kill you with my bare hands."

The man vanished as his form was swallowed by flames, leaving the Oracle to grab her neck and formulate a plan.

"Oh my God Shane!"

Paige ran into the hospital room where Shane was and flung herself on him. She was so relieved to see him. As she kissed him, Leo walked into the room.

"What are you still doing here?", Paige asked Leo with a look of disgust on her face.

"A simple thank you would suffice.", Leo retorted.

Paige was truly grateful that Leo saved Shane, but she wasn't ready to open up to anyone that was connected to the Halliwells right now.

"Get out.", Paige stated firmly.

Leo left the room, leaving Paige to talk with Shane alone.

"Oh thank God you're alright. I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't known you were safe. Did he hurt you?"

"Actually, he brought me here and I really don't remember how. He must've brought me in a cab or something, I don't know. Better question is, how did you know where I was?"

"What do you mean?", Paige asked, visibly confused.

"Well, the guy that brought me here said that he had to let you know where I was, but he didn't know how to find you. He was worried that you wouldn't know where I was until I could call you."

"To be honest, I don't know. I just knew that I had to get to you. It's kind of like I could _sense_ where you were or something. I don't know how to explain it honestly. It's just been a horrible night. Shane, I was so scared."

Shane didn't know what was going on or what happened to him earlier, but he could see that Paige was really scared. He had never seen her like this. He didn't know if now was really the time to see if she would talk, so he just held her. Suddenly, he saw something strange in the corner. It almost looked like a man. Shane let go of Paige and leaned forward to get a closer look and almost feel out of the bed.

"SHANE NO!"

As Paige lifted her hands to catch Shane, he stopped in midair and she disappeared in a swirl of white orbs and then reappeared in the same place! This was the second time this had happened and she still didn't understand it. Paige, shocked at what she was seeing, went to get help and noticed that everyone around her was stopped in their tracks. No one moved, blinked, or even made a noise. It was like she was standing a hospital full of statues. It was creepy, but kind of cool at the same time. While Paige was distracted, the figure in the corner moved his hand over Shane, who unfroze instantly and caught his balance.

"Who the hell are you?!", Shane screamed.

The man, whose face was covered by the hood of his robe, replied, "For now, I am you.". With this, the man entered Shane's body.

"Paige!"

"Shane, what happened!?"

After Paige's question, the people in the hallway seemed to reanimate and it was as if she was never standing among them and they had never been frozen solid.

"Shane, something really weird is happening and I don't know what to do. I don't think I should have ever gone to the Halliwell's house. I should've just dropped it."

"Its ok Paige, I'm here for you.", the man disguised as Shane stated as he held her in his arms and comforted her.

A man dressed in a nice suit entered the room.

"Um, excuse me. May I speak with you two about what happened to you tonight?"

Paige left Shane's arms and saw that a police officer was standing in front of her.

"Well, how can you ask me anything and I don't even know who you are?", Paige asked sarcastically. Her days as somewhat of a delinquent made her very leery of cops. She knew when to clam up and when to sing like a canary. This was not one of the times she had a song prepared.

"My name is Inspector Cortez. I'm from the SFPD. Nice to meet you Miss Matthews."

"And how exactly can I help you Inspector?"

"Miss Matthews, I'm investigating the double homicide of a young woman and a doctor that occurred last week. I think you may know the woman, Piper Halliwell."

The mere mention of a Halliwell's name sent Paige into a tailspin. She didn't want to think about any of them. The man masquerading as Shane was quite interested however. He was very curious to know how much this mortal knew of the deaths. He knew that he couldn't risk the detective finding out about magic. After the Charmed Ones vanquished the Libris demon that was assigned to San Francisco last year, no other Libris demons would dare set foot there. It was the first time in centuries that a Libris had even been seen by a witch, let alone vanquished. However, the man knew that as a Charmed One, Paige had an innate urge to protect herself and her magic.

"Well, I hate to ruin your night Inspector, but I didn't know her.", Paige uttered with an unwavering gaze. She knew that she didn't need the police in her life and that she needed to disassociate with the Halliwell sisters.

"Miss Matthews. I don't think that you understand. I know for a fact that you know them. You've been seen frequenting the sisters' club, you were seen at the funeral of Ms. Halliwell earlier today, and on top of everything else, I followed you from their home. I don't know what had you in such a hurry, but here we are."

Inspector Cortez had been performing surveillance on the sisters for a few days now. He hadn't seen anything too extreme until today. He saw Prue and her father bring Paige and Shane to the manor, and had seen only Miss Matthews leave the home running later.

"By the way sir. How'd you do it?"

"Excuse me?", the Shane possessor asked.

"How'd you do it? Slip out of the house I mean? When everyone came to the house, it was you and Miss Matthews, but later on, it was just her."

Without missing a beat, the Shane possessor replied, "Well, I left out the back as soon as I got there. Paige was talking to them and I left them alone. One of the neighbors took me to the hospital because I had slipped earlier and landed on my head. Turns out I really did a number on myself and now I have a concussion."

Paige turned her head so quickly and sharply, she felt like she hurt herself. Was Shane really that good of a liar? He couldn't even lie about her dress being ugly when they went out a couple of weeks ago. She was completely shocked how quickly and easily that lie slid out of his mouth. She would have to watch him a little closer. Paige, who was in shock, hadn't thought to hide her reaction from Inspector Cortez. He hadn't been completely convinced and her reaction made it worse.

"Well, that's a very compelling story. Wish I could think on my toes like that. Miss Matthews, anything that you know, you really need to tell me. I don't know what it is that you're hiding, but whatever it is, it must be a hell of a secret."

"What do you mean by that?", Paige asked.

"Whatever it is you're hiding, the Halliwell sisters are working just as hard to hide as well. Have a good night you two. And call me if you learn, or remember, anything."

Inspector Cortez handed Paige and Shane copies of his business card and left the room. As he left the room, a nurse entered and informed them that Shane was being discharged and could go home.

"That's the only good news I've heard tonight.", Paige said as he hugged Shane. It was weird. Even his hug was different. She didn't know what was going on, but something was off. Although it could have been the craziness that had occurred. She wasn't sure, but she was keeping her eyes peeled. At the same time, the Shane possessor knew that he had a limited amount of time, and he needed to be efficient with his plan.

The next morning, Paige and the Shane possessor woke up to the sounds of Paige's parakeet, Oscar. The parakeet was being much noisier than usual and was chirping at an alarming rate. Paige didn't know what could possibly be wrong with him.

"Oh my gosh, he's going crazy.", Paige said as she wrapped the sheet around her while she got out of bed with Shane. "He's never been like this. Maybe there's going to be a cold snap or something. I don't really know what that means, but birds are weird. I'm sorry Shane. "

"Its fine Paige. Go ahead and get ready for work."

"I don't think I should go today. Last night was crazy and I think I need to stay here with you."

No. You and I both know that you have to do something to distract you. Besides, I'm a big boy. I can handle it."

Paige kissed Shane and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

The Shane possessor turned his gaze to the bird. He knew what going on. The bird was a familiar. He knew that the bird's magical senses were running wild and it was trying to alert Paige. His eyes went black and suddenly the bird was engulfed in flames. As the bird disintegrated, the Shane possessor smirked.

A little while later, Paige came out of the bathroom fully dressed and smelling good from her morning shower and perfume.

She walked over and leaned in to kiss Shane but stopped herself.

"Where's Oscar?"

"What?", the Shane possessor asked.

"Oscar!", Paige repeated.

"Who now?"

"Oscar! My bird!"

"Oh. Well, he flew out the window I guess."

"Shane, the cage is still locked."

"Um…I closed it. After he flew out. I opened it to see what was wrong and he flew out. So then I closed it after he flew out." The man didn't know why, but he honestly hadn't thought of her noticing it was gone. It was like someone had written a script for a popular TV show about magic and had forgotten to address the logical things in certain scenes. *cough, Charmed, cough*

"Well, anyway. I'm heading off to work. Feel free to crash and make yourself at home. There may not be a lot in the fridge though."

As Paige walked out, the man's palm glowed as he pointed his hand towards Paige.

"Yea, you wouldn't want to be late for that placement hearing.", he stated.

"How'd you know about that?". Paige was confused, as she has been since yesterday. She didn't usually talk about work with people so she knew that she hadn't told Shane about the hearing.

"You told me. Remember? The little boy, abusive dad, negligent mom. You said it's the most disgusting thing you've seen."

Paige was utterly confused, but he knew too much. She must've told him when she was very tired. She couldn't quite figure that part out.

"Yea. Anyway, stop by for lunch if you feel up to it."

Paige left the apartment.

The man turned around and looked at the empty cage.

"Well, that wasn't a good move at all.", the man stated. "I should've waited until AFTER she left. Oh well." The man reflected on this as his body became surrounded by flames and he disappeared.

The man appeared before the oracle he left behind earlier. He had a puzzled look on his face.

"It was a simple mistake my liege.", she uttered.

"Pardon?", he replied.

"The one writing the story forgot that the bird was originally killed after Paige left."

"Well that explains it! I knew I wasn't crazy. He should know better. He claims to love this show. Shame on him."

"It's understandable my liege. He forgot that, but Paige never questioned it before, so…there you go."

Both demons looked over their shoulder and shook their fingers at the writer.

"What can I say? I'm human. You're demons. Get over it.", the writer wrote sarcastically. "You're not even supposed to know it's a fanfiction about an old show. Back in character you two."

The characters immediately turned around and finished their conversation.

"Where will Paige be?"

"She will make a stop that will be quite beneficial to you my liege."

"Good. I will use this opportunity to sway her if it is the last thing I do."

At Halliwell manor, Prue amd Phoebe hadn't spoken since the night before. The attic was destroyed, and the foyer was a mess from the attack. Everything was in disarray. Phoebe walked downstairs and saw Prue standing in the middle of the foyer with brooms and dustpans working all around her without anyone touching them.

"A little early for a cleaning session don't you think?", Phoebe joked as she walked past a broom floating next to her.

"I couldn't stand it anymore. Piper would kill us if she saw what the house looked like. She'd kill us and then make us clean up after ourselves." Prue quipped. "How are you this morning?"

"Better. I think. Hey, why are you using your eyes?"

"What?"

"Why are you using your eyes for your power? Did something happen to your hand?"

"Have you been to the attic yet?"

"No, I don't think I can go back up there for a while."

"Good. Don't. I'll explain later."

Prue and Phoebe sat down on the seat next to the door.

"How are you really?", Prue asked her sister.

"I honestly don't know. Piper was always the one that I vented to. No offense, she just knew what to say, even when she didn't. You know what I mean?"

"Oh yea."

"I just don't know what to do without her. It made it worse that Grams and Mom were standing there telling us about a sister we never met. I don't even think I have a place for that yet. I'm trying to make sense of it, but I don't know how they could've lied to us this long. How could they hide something like that?"

Prue, searching desperately for an answer to give her sister, was coming up blank. Piper was the one who comforted people. Prue was the one who gave inspirational battle speeches. She was the one who made innocents realize that their life was fighting for. She was the one who could think sensibly in a crisis. She didn't know how to just listen. She didn't know what to say to make people feel better. She didn't know how to love people with just her eyes. She didn't know how to be Piper.

"I don't know Pheebs. I guess they felt like they had to protect us. Kind of like them keeping our powers from us as kids. Can you imagine what it would've been like if we had our powers when we were growing up? I guess sometimes the right decision isn't the easy decision."

"Prue, I love you, but that stunk."

The sisters laughed. It felt good to laugh. It almost felt right.

"I feel so guilty.", Phoebe whispered as she leaned on her sister's shoulder.

"For what sweetie?"

"For laughing. It just feels like we should be crying all day and night. It doesn't feel right to laugh and not be sad all the time."

"Well, I think that's what we'll have every day after this for. I don't think it'll ever get completely better, it'll only get more manageable."

"Now that was helpful.", Phoebe laughed.

Prue thought and realized that they hadn't seen Leo since he took Paige's boyfriend to the hospital.

"Hey, when was the last time you talked to Leo?", she asked Phoebe.

"The last time I talked to him was right before you and Paige came to the house. Come to think of it, that was the first time I had seen him in a while."

Both sisters looked at each other and worried about their brother-in-law.

"LEO!", both sisters called out.

Leo orbed into the room.

"Leo!", both sisters exclaimed as they jumped to hug their brother-in-law. "Where did you go?", Phoebe asked.

"I was _up there_.", Leo responded bluntly. "I was talking with the Elders."

"About what?", Prue asked.

"They don't think that I should remain your whitelighter."

"What?!", the sisters asked in sheer anger.

"Why would they think that THIS is the time to take you away from us? That makes no sense. Leo, you're family.", Prue stated with a look of sorrow on her face.

"They don't see it that way. With the situation with Paige, they feel you need a whitelighter that won't be as biased."

"Leo, how does that make sense? Wouldn't we need someone who could understand our situation? Why bring someone new into the mix?"

"The decision was theirs Phoebe, and honestly, I agree with them. I miss Piper too much to be any good to you. I'm sorry. They only let me come back to tell you two things. One was that my replacement will be here today. From what they told me, he is a fairly new whitelighter and you guys will be his first assignment."

"Great, more newbies.", Prue said as she exhaled. "The guy writing this better make it good."

"What?", Phoebe and Leo asked.

"What?", Prue retorted.

"Anyway, the other thing they wanted me to warn you about is the 48-hour window and that the Source may try to use that to his advantage."

"The what?", the sisters asked.

"The 48-hour window a witch has to choose whether she'll be good or evil. Both sides agreed on it eons ago to respect free will. I'm sure I told you guys about that before."

"What! Uh, no, you didn't.", Prue exclaimed. "I think we wouldv'e been just a tap more worried if we had known about that. I mean, that's pretty big. Did we get that window? Why has no one EVER brought this up to us? You would think the Charmed Ones would know something about this, but we don't. And why would you choose now to drop that bomb on us? That's a pretty convenient plot device."

"Did you just call it a plot device?"

"No."

"The point is, the Source might use this time to sway Paige over to the side of evil. You guys need to find some answers so that you can understand what's going on."

"Wait. You left the house before we found out Paige was our sister. How do you even know about that?", Prue asked. She was being quite insightful today.

"When I took Shane to the hospital, I felt a lot of power emanating in the area. The only other time I've ever felt that is when you guys used the Power of Three. So once I came back and saw the attic destroyed, I asked Victor what happened."

"Wait, the attic is destroyed?", Phoebe asked confused,

"We'll talk later. Continue.", Prue stated,

"Once he told me what was going on, I reported to the Elders, and that's when we had our chat."

"Wow, didn't expect that.", Prue stated with her eyes bucked wide.

"Expect what?", Leo asked.

"A logical answer. Usually, we just kind of accept things at face value."

"Prue. We get it. Details get ignored sometimes. Stop it.", Phoebe said.

"Sorry. Just trying to add a hint of realism to the scene."

Leo brought the focus back to the situation at hand.

"I think you probably need to start at the church that Paige was taken to. Go there and see if anyone remembers her. Do you have any idea what church it might be?"

"The only church I can think of is the church Grams used to take us to. She'd take us there some Sundays so she could catch up with some of her old bridge buddies.", Phoebe stated.

"She'd only go for bridge buddies?", Leo asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Are you surprised?", Prue asked.

"No.", Leo said as he looked thoughtfully. Suddenly, he heard the Elders' call. "I have to go. But I want you guys to know that I love you. I'm sorry I won't be able to be here, but I'll always be here for you. We're going to get through this. I promise.". Leo hugged the women and orbed out.

"Well, I guess we're going to church.", Prue quipped as the sisters went to get ready.

Paige walked into the church that her parents told her she was taken to as a baby. As she walked towards the back, she saw a beautiful nun.

"Excuse me."

"Hello dear. Can I help you with something?", the nun asked.

"I hope so. My name is Paige Matthews. I think you know me. Well, I probably look a lot different. Does the date August 2, 1977 mean anything to you?"

"Dear God.". The nun took a deep breath and stepped back.

"I was always hoping that you would come back. Come this way."

The nun took Paige back to an office with a beautiful chest that held a baby blanket.

"I remember that night like it was yesterday. I was here working when all of a sudden, two angels appeared in the most beautiful white light that I've ever seen. They told me that their child was in great danger and they had to give her up to keep her safe. They asked that I find a good home for the baby and that the only condition is that the name begin with a P. I wasn't sure why, but I didn't ask too many questions. This was the blanket that you were wrapped in when they brought you to me. Here, it's yours."

The nun handed Paige the blanket that had a beautiful P stitched on the side of it. Paige could hardly believe it. After all this time, she had the confirmation that she was a part of something. It was messed up, but she was a part of it. Suddenly, Prue and Phoebe walked in.

"Hey!", Prue yelled.

Paige was startled and threw her hands up. The nun in front of her froze in her tracks and Paige orbed out!

"Do you think she meant to do that?", Phoebe inquired of her big sister.

"I think it's a fear thing. Remember when we first got our powers and Piper would freeze stuff when she was scared or nervous?", Prue responded.

"Oh yea."

Paige reappeared and screamed at them, "What are you doing here?! I thought I made it clear I didn't want any part of your craziness."

"We're not the ones who froze a nun", Prue stated sarcastically.

Paige turned around and couldn't believe it. It had happened again. Prue saw the blanket that Paige had in her hands.

"What's that?"

"Don't touch that! It's mine!". Paige screamed as she walked towards the entrance.

"Wait! We have to talk to you!"

"No, there's nothing you have to say to me Prue. Nothing at all. Because there's nothing I have to say to you."

"Well, we need to teach you about your magical powers!"

Paige stopped and faced the sisters.

"So that's really all it took?", Phoebe asked.

"Magic powers?", Paige asked.

"Yep. Yours. You already saw that you can freeze people. That was Piper's power. Part of the whole prophecy thing we have going on. The third sister has the power to stop time. But it's more of a molecular thing. It's really interesting actually. Piper could also speed up molecules and blow things up. But it took her a while to develop that one. You might have it already though. Who knows." Prue was confident that she had explained it well and hoped that Paige didn't have Piper's exploding power. That could be disastrous right now honestly.

"So how do I know if I can blow things up?"

"You don't really. Point your hand at that candle and see what happens.", Phoebe instructed.

Paige threw her hand up at the candle and the flame stopped flickering indicating that she had frozen it.

"Well crap. That was anti-climactic.", Prue said as Phoebe nudged her in the side.

Paige threw her hands up one more time. Nothing.

"Ok, so you can't blow things up. It'll probably come in time. Just give it a little while.", Prue said almost excitedly. Even though she was glad Paige couldn't blow things up, she was curious to see how her whitelighter half would affect her powers. If they did at all.

Outside, the Shane possessor walked towards the door to get to Paige. Suddenly, the gargoyles on the building started wailing as loud as they could. The screams incapacitated the man, who feel to his knees and used his powers to open the doors.

"Paige!", he yelled.

"Shane?!"

Paige ran to Shane, who looked back at the sisters as his eyes went black. As the sisters tried to run towards Paige and warn her, red globes came from the man's eyes and threw Prue and Phoebe to the back of the sanctuary. Paige and the man left, leaving Phoebe and Prue bewildered. Was Shane a demon? Did Paige know this?

"Ok, what just happened?", Phoebe asked.

"That's something I would like to know myself.", the unfrozen nun asked.

Prue and Phoebe had no idea what to say…..

"Shane, how did you know I would be there?", Paige asked as she helped him on to the bed.

"I called your job and they said you weren't there. I started thinking and I remembered you saying that you thought about trying to find the church you were left at. I'm sorry Paige. I shouldn't have gone."

None of that story made sense to her, but she had no reason to doubt him.

"It's ok. I just…I'm so confused Shane. I don't know what to do anymore. I just feel like I'm being pulled in a million directions. It's just a lot. I think I need to go and talk with the Halliwells."

"No!", the man yelled. "No, I think you need to take a little time and figure out what you need to do. Talking to them will only make things more confusing. I mean, we don't even know if they have your best interests at heart."

Something about this didn't feel right to Paige. Shane was always caring and supportive. Even when he knew the truth would hurt, he encouraged and uplifted her. Now, it was like he was trying to make her feel scared and stay here. Maybe it was because of what happened and he was trying to protect himself.

"I think I have to Shane. I can't just run away from this. I'm going over there."

As Paige moved towards the door, the man's hand began to glow red again. Paige moved in slow motion as if she was a slug.

"Damn you Charmed Ones.", the man uttered. "I can't wait any longer. The eldest is too persistent. Oracle appear." The man waved his hand and the oracle and her crystal ball appeared on the bed.

"My liege", she uttered in a low, subtle panic, "you cannot do this. The plan was for her to attack the father of the child so that she could use her power for evil. If you proceed now without properly seducing her, it could be disastrous. You must be patient."

The man went over and grabbed the oracle by her throat. "I've been plenty patient. I executed my plan to kill the witches and killed one, although it wasn't the one you told me would die. Because of that, I'm now having to focus all my energy on this one witch."

"My liege, what does it matter which sister died?", the woman asked while trying to catch any breath that she could.

"BECAUSE THE STRONGEST IS STILL ALIVE! The power of the Charmed Ones lies in their bond as sisters. If the eldest had been killed, as foreseen, things would be much different. The middle sister was passive and had to learn to lead, but the eldest is a formidable force that has the potential to move much quicker than any of her sisters! That is the problem! The eldest born witch is the link in this circle that I need obliterated! If my plan fails, I will destroy you Oracle. Your false visions have brought us here, and I do not plan to continue with these mistakes."

The man flung the oracle down and waved his hand, making her and the crystal ball disappear. He then turned to Paige with a look of rage on Shane's face.

"Now for you."

The man stood behind Paige, still moving slow and obviously oblivious to what was going on around her. "You must stop them Paige.", he whispered in her ear, "You must stop the women who are trying to take everything away from you. Your career, your friends, your life. What if they try to take your memories about your parents? What if they make you see only their mother as yours and try to erase anything representing you? You can't lose yourself, Paige. Not again. You've worked too hard to come to this point. You can never go back."

The man had seen inside Paige's mind and knew what worried her. He knew that she feared losing herself and everything she worked for. She was scared and just wanted to belong, but she didn't know where she wanted to belong just yet.

As Paige began to move in real time, she had a dazed look on her face, almost as if she was in a trance. Without speaking, she left the apartment and headed to the manor. The man smiled as he followed her.

"So, tell me again how you blew up the attic.", Phoebe said to her sister as they walked down the staircase.

"Basically, my powers have grown again. You never saw them when we went to the future. Or did you? Will you? Whatever, I'm not good with tenses. I don't think you ever saw it though. It was epic."

"Can you show me now?"

"Only if you'll call the contractor to fix the house afterwards."

"Never mind. We still need to figure out what kind of demon Shane is."

"Honestly, I don't think he's a demon."

"Prue, how could you not think he's a demon? Red globes came from his eyes and flung us to the other side of a church. A church he couldn't enter because stone gargoyles started screaming. What else does he need? An "I Heart Evil" sticker on his shirt?"

"I just think that if he was a demon, we'd be able to tell. God knows we have enough experience with getting personal with them."

"I'll take it that under the breath comment was directed at me and Cole."

"Well, he is a demon. A demon known for killing witches. Directly and indirectly."

"What is that supposed to mean? Oh my God. You think Cole is the reason Piper died, don't you?"

"Phoebe, can we just talk about this later? I didn't mean it."

"Obviously, you did. You just didn't mean to say it out loud. What if there's not a later for us to talk about it Prue? Then what? The only reason you even said that just now is because you slipped up. Am I supposed to wait until YOU get ready to talk? Prue, you can't keep dismissing me because you don't want to face this. If we're going to have any chance of beating the Source and avenging Piper, we have to be honest with each other! You and I spent too long hating each other and being separate. Things have changed Prue! We've changed! We can't let this take us back to where we used to be!"

"Phoebe, I….."

Before Prue could finish her thought, Paige burst through the doors of the manor! She had a blank look on her face, but her eyes narrowed on Prue and Phoebe with white hot intensity!

"Paige, what the hell is wrong with you?", Prue screamed.

"Prue, something's not right. I don't think that's Paige. If it is, she must have a spell on her or something. Look at her eyes."

"Well even if she does, what can she really do? Freeze us to death? Good witches don't even freeze!"

Paige orbed behind Prue and Phoebe and kicked them both, knocking them to the ground.

"Just because her power is passive doesn't mean she can't still hurt us apparently!", Phoebe retorted.

Paige was attacking the sisters mercilessly until Phoebe finally overpowered her with a spin-kick. Paige fell to the ground and raised her head up staring at her sisters with a look of pure rage! Suddenly, Paige lifted her hand and tried to aim at her sisters. As she did, orbs surrounded the lamp next to Phoebe and seemed to cause the lamp to explode!

"Oh my God!", Phoebe screamed!

"Now that was what I was looking for earlier!", Prue said with an odd level of excitement.

"Prue!", Phoebe screamed as she brought her sister back to reality!

Suddenly the Shane impersonator arrived to the manor surrounded by flames.

"Prue! Look, it's the Shane guy!"

As Prue looked over, the Shane possessor threw a fire ball that threw her across the room and knocked her out. Phoebe ran to her sister to see if she was alright. "Leo!". Phoebe's call fell on deaf ears and no one appeared.

"Do you see Paige? Their lives are nothing but chaos. Through all of it, they haven't checked on you. They're only concerned about each other."

"Don't listen to him Paige!", Phoebe screamed. "You're a Halliwell. Last name or not, you're our sister."

Paige held her head. She had such a huge headache, it felt like she would die. Suddenly, she heard a little boy's voice. The Shane impersonator had shape shifted into the form of the little boy Paige was helping.

"If they take you away, you can't help me."

Then, he shape shifted into the boy's mother.

"Paige! You have to help my son! Don't let them stop you from saving him!"

His next form was Paige's boyfriend Shane.

"Look at how they're already separating us Paige. Don't let them tear us apart."

His final form was the worst of all. He shape shifted into Paige's mother.

"Paige, my sweet girl. Don't let them take me away from you again. Don't let magic stop you from loving me."

"Mommy?", Paige cried as she saw her mother standing before her.

"Yes sweetheart. It's me. Just come with me and they can't take me away from you ever."

Paige extended her hand and grabbed her mother's. As she stood up, Phoebe tried to stop her. The demon took its free hand and lifted Phoebe into the air torturing her with bolts of lightning! Phoebe was screaming for help to release her from this excruciating pain!

"Stop!", Paige screamed as she pushed her mother's form! Phoebe was released and fell to the floor, breathless. Paige couldn't believe what she had just done, but she collected herself long enough to say what she had to say.

"My mother would never hurt someone like that! She loved people too much for that! And she would never try to keep me from finding myself! She knew I loved her and I'd never leave her! Get out!"

The man's form turned back to Shane. "But Paige! Your power is yours and yours alone! You shouldn't have to share it!"

"The only one I'm sharing it with is you!"

Paige lifted her hand and the same orbs that destroyed the lamp knocked the man into the wall behind him.

Prue, who had just come to and checked on Phoebe, looked at the man and said, "Looks like we know what side she chooses."

Paige came out of the daze she had been feeling and her head finally stopped spinning.

Shane's body fell to the ground and an astral form of the cloaked demon from earlier appeared.

"I have broken the Charmed circle before, and I will do it again. Just you wait."

With that, the demon disappeared leaving Shane's unconscious body behind.

"Paige, we're so sorry.", Phoebe said as she held her little sister.

"I knew it couldn't be her. She would never say those things. She loved everyone. She wouldn't…..". Paige burst into tears as both of her sisters held her. They didn't know her yet, but they knew they would be in this together from now on.

"The benefit of having sisters,", Prue said as she held Paige's face in her hand, "is that you don't have to go through things alone. We're here for you."

As all three sisters hugged, a brilliant white light came from the corner.

"Leo, you're a little late. You should've come when we...Oh my God.". Phoebe stopped mid-sentence as she looked at the man in front of her.

Prue looked up and exclaimed, "Dr. Griffiths?"

"You're the women who tried to help me. Now I'm here to help you. The name's Mark by the way.", Dr. Griffiths replied.

A woman's voice echoed from behind the Doctor. "Actually, he's here to train so he can help others. I'm here for good."

Prue and Phoebe looked at each other in amazement. They looked back at the red-haired, fair skinned woman in front of them.

"Natalie?!"

Things were about to get interesting….


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8-A Witch's Heart**

" _Dr. Griffiths, this is anything but…."_

" _What?"_

" _I don't know, I just felt a chill. Phoebe?! Pheebs you there?"_

 _A destructive wind crashes through the doors!_

" _Phoebe! Phoebe, we need you! Where are you!"_

" _NO!"_

 _Prue pushes Dr. Griffiths and crashes through the wall at the hands of Shax. She hears her sister yell her name._

" _Prue!"_

"PIPER NO!"

Prue jerks herself out of her sleep. As she wakes up, all the objects in her room, including the bed, crash to the ground.

"Prue?! What happened?! Are you alright?"

Phoebe runs to her sister's bed and checks on her.

"I'm alright Pheebs. I just had a bad dream."

"Prue, this is the 3rd bad dream this week. Any more and we'll have to buy you new furniture. And redo the floors."

"I don't understand why it happened like that Pheebs. I just, I don't know what happened. I could've used my powers, Piper could've used hers. I just don't understand why it happened like that."

"You and I both know that when the adrenaline is pumping, we make decisions in the heat of the moment. Prue, you and Piper did what your minds led you to do right then. Sweetie, you can't keep beating yourself up for one mistake.", Phoebe stated in a calm voice as she rested her hand on her sister's face.

"Yea, but that mistake cost Piper her life. I mean, my God, Phoebe. At what point do we acknowledge the roles we all played in Piper dying?!"

Prue was past mad, she was pissed off. She was at a point where she didn't know if she could hold it in anymore. Everyone kept acting as if this was just some random tragedy. There was a reason behind it. It was a cause and effect situation, but she didn't know if she was ready to go there just yet.

"You keep saying that, Prue, but you never explain what you mean."

"I'm just tired Phoebe, that's all."

"No, you're not just tired Prue. There's more to this. Do you think I had something to do with Piper dying?", Phoebe asked in a reluctant whisper.

"Phoebe, I can't do this right now."

"We HAVE to do this Prue! Just answer my question!

"I'm not answering this right now! JUST DROP IT PHOEBE!"

Phoebe jumped up from the bed and ran to the door with tears in her eyes.

"You're not the only one who's hurting believe it or not. It would be really nice to have my sister right now."

Phoebe ran to her room, crying and wishing she could have Piper there with her. Piper always knew how to console her. Piper was like the mom she never had. She was her protector, her counselor, her diary, and her conscience. What was she supposed to do without her? Prue wasn't ready to help anyone else right now. She understood that her sister was just as lost as she was right now, but she couldn't keep waiting for Prue to come around and focus on someone other than herself.

Suddenly, a loud whistle came from the hallway! Phoebe jumped to see what was going on.

"Prue?!"

"Phoebe?!"

Both sisters ran into the hallway to check on the other and see what was going on. As they arrived, they were met by Natalie and Dr. Griffiths dressed in sweats.

"Oh God, not again.", Phoebe groaned.

"Natalie, what the hell are you doing?", Prue asked.

"You ladies need to start training. Immediately.", Natalie stated with a determined, yet concerned, look on her face.

"Training for what?", Phoebe asked.

"Bo, I'll give you the floor."

"Wait. Bo? I thought you told us your name was Mark."

"Technically, it is. My name is actually Beauregard Marcus Griffiths. People usually call me Bo, but I like going by Mark better."

"That doesn't flow well at all.", Prue snarked.

"Blame my mother. I didn't pick the name.", he replied with a grin. "But back to your training. In the past 3 days, you girls have found out about a new sister, your powers have grown, and on top of that, the Source attacked you directly. That's a lot to handle. That's why Natalie and I think you need to start a training regimen."

"Yea, but we've handled all of that, plus the random demon attacks in between.", Prue stated confidently.

Natalie walks up to Prue and locks eyes with her. "You handled it in the same way you handle everything else. With passion and a little bit of luck. Now look, I've seen what you guys can do and what you can't do." She rolls her eyes towards Phoebe. "Obviously, passion is a problem in this house."

"I take it you're referring to me not vanquishing Cole.", Phoebe states.

"Yes, actually. I am referring to Belthazor. That could have been the biggest vanquish of your time as witches yet, and you blew it. What makes it worse is that you lied to everyone about it and put them in danger. But that's a conversation for a different day."

"Excuse me?! What gives you the right to talk about me that way in my own home?!", Phoebe screamed!

"What gives me the right? What gives me the right? How about the fact that I am your acting whitelighter? How about the fact that I died, for the second time may I add, so that the greater good could be protected? How about the fact that you avenged my death with a country western spell!"

"What did that have to do with anything?", Phoebe asked.

"I hate country westerns!", Natalie responded.

"If that was an attempt at humor, it was very poorly written.", Prue said.

"What?"

"What? Nothing?", Prue said in a quick breath.

"The point that I am trying to make is that passion and adrenaline has its place, but not with the Charmed Ones. You have to be smarter than that."

Prue turned her head and closed her eyes to stop the tear that wanted to fall. Those words were almost too much to hear.

"So, to kill the passion, you barge in here at 6 AM to, what, beat it out of us?", Phoebe asked in a sarcastic tone.

"If I wanted to beat it out of you, we would've stage a faux attack while you slept."

"Oh please", Prue muttered, "Demons never attack us while we sleep. Well, ok, there was that one guy, but he wasn't really a demon, just a crazy human. And that time I was astral projecting to escape my life. Why don't demons attack us when we sleep? Hmm."

"FOCUS!", Natalie yelled at Prue. "That is the problem. You two are so busy coming up with quips and asking questions that you don't focus your minds enough to be of any real use. I can only hope the new one isn't like this. Where is she anyway?"

"Um, at her apartment, I assume.", Prue responded.

"Wait. The Power of Three has been reconstituted and you're not all living under the same roof?", Natalie asked.

"Well,", Phoebe muttered, "we just found out about her, what, like a week ago? It took longer than that for us to take in Kit."

"Where is Kit?", Prue asked.

"That's a good question.", Phoebe responded as she looked around to see if she could spot Kit the Kat. Get it? Kit the Kat? Like the candy…..ok, I'll stop.

"BACK ON TRACK!", Natalie yelled. "Bo, you stay here and start training with them. I'll go get the new one."

"Her name is Paige.", Bo responded.

"Thank you. I'll return shortly. And I expect that you'll treat him with the same respect you give me."

With that, Natalie orbed out of the manor to retrieve Paige for the training session.

Prue looked at Dr. Griffiths with an awkward stare.

"What's wrong Prue?", Dr. Griffiths asked.

"This just seems so wrong."

"What does?"

"This. You. Being our whitelighter. The only reason that you're even here is because my sisters and I couldn't protect you. And now, you're here, in the same house you died in, trying to help train us. Doesn't it seem weird to you?"

Dr. Griffiths looked thoughtful. "I felt the same way at first. I was so mad that I had to help the people that I thought hadn't even protect me. But then I thought back to something that you told me. I'm a healer. As a doctor, I helped so many people, but never really appreciated what I did because I was cynical and angry. I mean, I never even believed there was an afterlife. And now, here I am, spending my afterlife helping people. I think I was chosen to work with you because we've spent years saving people, but in diverse ways. And just like seeing all of this has changed my perception of everything, I think I'm supposed to help you see things differently as well."

"That was beautiful.", Phoebe responded. "Spoken like a true whitelighter."

"I'll do whatever I can to learn from you Dr. Griffiths. And hopefully, we can show each other what the Greater Good can really accomplish.", Prue said as she looked at the changed man in front of her.

"And hopefully, in time, you can call me Mark or Bo instead of Dr. Griffiths. We're a team now."

Bo, Prue, and Phoebe shook hands and acknowledged they were a team.

"But what about Natalie?", Phoebe asked.

"She can be second string.", Prue responded.

All three laughed and headed downstairs to wait for Natalie to return with Prue.

"WAKE UP!", Natalie yelled as she orbed in Paige's apartment.

Paige jumped up and threw her hands in the air! As she did, Natalie was frozen in her tracks. Paige took this opportunity to get out of bed and put her robe on. She wasn't quite sure how long this "freezing" thing lasted and she didn't really know what to do with the idle time. She stood there and looked at Natalie, who was dressed in a gray jumpsuit and wondered what exactly she was doing there. She remembered her from the other night and remembered the story Phoebe told her. She just hoped that she didn't have to avenge Natalie's latest death any time soon. She was still new at this and wasn't up to avenging anyone just yet.

"I SAID WAKE…..wait, weren't you just lying down? Oh God, you froze me, didn't you? Look, can you at least warn me when you're about to do that? I hate surprises."

"Imagine how I feel then!", Paige screamed as she finished tying her robe. "One minute I'm sleeping soundly, and the next, I'm being yelled out of my sleep by a lady wearing a baggy sweat suit. You should really reconsider your wardrobe by the way."

"I see snarky comments and sarcasm run in families. You're their sister, for sure."

"I assume that wasn't a compliment."

"Well, at least you're not dumb. That's a plus."

"What was your name? Natalie? What do you want and why are you in my apartment this early?"

"You and your sisters need to train. You've already been attacked by the Source and you don't have full control of your powers."

"Does it have to be so early though? I don't think demons attack in the wee hours of the morning while I'm sleeping. Or do they? I'm going to have to ask about that one."

"This is exactly what I'm talking about!", Natalie yelled. "None of you know how to focus for longer than 30 seconds if there aren't shoes or men involved! I don't know why I allowed them to assign this case to me. None of you take me seriously."

"What?", Paige asked.

"Nothing. Look, you and your sisters need to start taking this more seriously. Right now, you're all sitting ducks. I don't understand why you don't live in the manor. That would help tremendously."

"I'm not moving in with them. I don't even know them! My God, you guys don't even think of me as a person, do you? You think I'm just another piece of a puzzle and I don't even know what Prue and Phoebe think of me. I know the Source is evil, but I'm starting to think he was right and you all only want me for my powers."

"That is the precise reason that you should be living in the manor. The Source shouldn't have been able to even plant that seed in your mind. You need to live with your sisters so that you can't get to know them and learn how to harness the Power of Three."

"I don't want to harness the Power of Three! I don't want to be a Charmed One! I want to be Paige Matthews. I want to go shopping with my friends and go to work every day. Ok, maybe not go to work EVERY day, but you know what I mean! I want to have a life and party on weekends without having to plan for a random demon attack. I want to be…..normal."

"But Paige," Natalie stated in an unusually calm voice, "you're not normal anymore."

Paige looked at Natalie with a look of confusion and frustration.

"Paige, do you really think that I planned on dying and spending my afterlife advising witches that don't listen to a word that I say? No. I thought I would help as many people as I could, go home to my family, and lead a normal life until I died a normal death. But our plans don't always match up with Destiny, Paige. We have to play the hand we're dealt. I'll leave you alone about moving in with your sisters, but I definitely think you need to spend time with them. What always made the Power of Three so amazingly strong was the bond between the sisters. And now, you're a part of that bond, Paige. And whether you like it or not, you're going to need them as much as they're going to need you. So why waste time crying about something you can't change, when you could just change with the times. You don't seem like a girl that's afraid of a challenge."

Paige didn't know whether to feel inspired or angry. She wasn't ready to give this her all, but she knew she didn't really have a choice.

"I'll go with you, but I'm wearing something comfortable."

"Please wear a bra. You can't hunt demons in a tank top and no bra.", Natalie responded.

Paige was offended! Now she had to actually think about what she was going to wear.

Natalie and Paige orbed into the manner. As they arrived, Bo was with Prue and Phoebe looking at pictures of them as children.

"What exactly is going on?", Natalie screeched.

"We're looking at pictures, Natalie.", Bo responded. "I can't really help them if I don't know anything about them. They were telling me about their childhood and how much Piper loved to cook growing up. Hi Paige."

"Hi there."

Phoebe and Prue glanced at their newfound sibling and seemed a bit awkward.

"Hey.", Paige finally uttered after what seemed to be an eternity.

"Hey.", Prue responded.

"Hello.", Phoebe exclaimed. "Do you want to come look at the pictures with us?"

Paige didn't really feel comfortable, but she sat down anyway.

"THIS IS NO TIME FOR PICTURES!", Natalie screamed. "The Source could come in here and kill you 3 right now. What's the plan, take him out with a stroll down memory lane?!"

"Natalie, just let them look and we'll go get everything ready for their training. Deal?", Bo asked calmly.

Natalie was not happy, but she saw the serious look on Bo's face.

"Fine. 5 minutes. Then, you 3 come to the attic."

With that, Natalie and Bo orbed to the attic, leaving the sisters alone together for the first time.

"Sorry about Natalie, she's a real piece of…."

"Phoebe!", Prue interrupted.

"What?! I was going to say work. She's a real piece of work."

Paige giggled under her breath. She had grown up an only child, so seeing siblings interact had always entertained her. Suddenly, Paige looked at one of the photos in the photo album.

"Who's that?", Paige asked.

Prue looked down at the picture. "Well that's me, and that's Piper.", Prue said as she pointed to each of the young girls standing in the picture.

"Wow. So, I did meet her.", Paige muttered.

"Wait, you met Piper?", Prue and Phoebe asked with confused looks on their faces.

"Well, yes and no I guess. I remember when I was a kid, my parents made me join 4-H. I hated it. But I remember this girl that would come and help us with our projects. It was only when we would host other schools, because I remember her being older than me and always helping us. We only talked a few times, and the only thing I remember was that her name started with a P, just like me. Seeing that picture, though, I realize it was Piper."

Phoebe, holding back tears, stated, "That was Piper, always helping people. She loved helping people. She was like a mom to everyone."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.", Paige said with a meaningful look.

"No, no. Don't apologize. I love thinking about Piper being happy and helpful to people."

Phoebe smiled at her little sister while Prue held Phoebe in her arms. She was on the verge of tears, but also had a quizzical look on her face.

"Can I ask you a question?", she asked Paige. "You said you met her like you were questioning it. Did you think you had met her before?

Paige looked thoughtful as she responded. "Well, I was just thinking the other night. San Francisco is a big city, but for people that grew up here, it's kind of small. I was trying to think if I ever met you guys or if I had known anything about you. It just seemed weird that we grew up in the same city, but NEVER met each other in any way."

"That's a good point.", Prue stated. "I mean, we even lived relatively close to each other. We should've met at some point."

"I guess it's the whole destiny thing, huh?", Paige quipped.

The sisters shared a smile and quick laugh.

Phoebe looked at Paige and grabbed her hand.

"Its going to be weird for all of us at first. But I think that we can get through this. That's what the whole "sister thing" is for. We understand you, and we're here to help you."

Prue nodded in agreement.

As the sisters shared a look, they heard a crash in the attic!

"GUYS! WE NEED YOU!", Bo screamed.

The sisters ran to the attic as fast as they could and found that Natalie was being held up and strangled by the demon. He had a bright green energy coming from his hand, and the same energy was holding Natalie in the air by her throat.

"FREEZE HIM!", Phoebe yelled to Paige.

Paige tried to freeze the demon, but melted the couch next to the demon.

The demon was distracted, but did not lose his grip on Natalie. He threw an energy ball that threw Paige through the attic door.

Prue tried to throw the demon with her telekinesis, but ended up destroying half of the attic! Phoebe, who was the only one with control over her powers, levitated into the air and kicked the demon! As she did, the demon lost concentration and Natalie fell to the floor. The demon looked around at the room, locked eyes with Prue, and then disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.

"Ok, what just happened?!", Prue yelled.

"That, my friends, was a prime example of the control you DON'T have over your powers.", Natalie retorted.

"Paige is still a new witch, Natalie.", Phoebe snarked.

"Ok, well, what about that one?", Natalie asked as she pointed her finger at Prue. "She's supposed to be a seasoned witch, but she can't control her powers at all."

"My powers grew, so excuse me for not having the same amount of control over them I had before."

"Ok, I hate to stop this loving banter, but what are you guys going to do about your attic?", Paige asked.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It'll be back to normal in a little bit.", Prue responded.

"What?", Paige asked with a confused look.

"Nothing. Look, Natalie, we need to figure out who that demon was and what that funky energy was that he was using."

"No, you need to focus on controlling your powers. If that demon comes back, there's no way that you'll be ready to fight him. Phoebe was the only one that was worth anything and she's useless by herself."

"Excuse me?", Phoebe asked as she turned towards Natalie.

"You know what I mean."

"No, I don't. Please explain."

"I just meant that one Charmed One alone is useless. And its not like you have the best powers to use for the offense."

"Well, I was the only one that was able to fight off the demon, so I guess that makes me pretty useful on my own, huh."

Bo interjected. "Ok, I think that we all need to take a moment and breathe. Prue, you look in the Book of Shadows for the demon. Paige, you can help Prue look for the demon. That way, she can show you the book. Natalie, you check with the Elders to see if they can possibly ID the demon."

"I don't think that this demon is enough of a threat to check with the Elders. Besides, I think.."

"Natalie! I think that'll give everyone enough time to cool off. So, go. Please."

With a red face, and a look of embarrassment, Natalie orbed away to speak with the Elders.

"Phoebe, let them find the demon. You and I can talk about a strategy. With you having full control over your powers, you're our most valuable asset right now.

Phoebe and Bo walked out of the attic.

Prue, who was standing in front of the book, motioned for Paige to join her. Paige was amazed at how thick the book was. She had never seen something so old. She could tell it had been passed down from generation to generation.

"It's so old.", she commented.

"Yeah, it's been through a lot. Especially the past few years. Every witch that came before us put an entry in the book to document a demon they faced. The thing is, none of the witches in our family were powerful enough to vanquish a lot of these demons. So, all they could do was pass it down to us."

"You guys must be really powerful."

Prue looked at Paige with a look of sorrow. "Yeah. The Power of Three is strong. It's the bond between the sisters."

Paige wasn't quite sure how to respond to this. She knew that she was their half-sister and was now technically a part of this, but she knew she would never amount to Piper.

"You think it can work with a half-sister?"

"I think that as long as we're sisters, we're safe. And we'll always be sisters."

"You know, with me not growing up with sisters, I'm just scared I won't be able to help you guys the way you need me to."

"We haven't always been as close knit as we are now. If you had told me a few years ago that Phoebe and I would be this close, I would've thought you were crazy. It's been a hard few years, but I will say that it helped me get my sister back. Magic forced us to resolve our issues and be sisters again. It'll be difficult at first, but we'll get there. And I'll help you as much as I can. After all, what are big sisters for?"

Paige felt better after talking to Prue. She wasn't the type to open up to people that easily, but she felt like she might be able to trust Prue. Maybe she wouldn't be as bad at this sister thing as she thought.

As they flipped through the book, they saw a demon that looked just like the one they had seen earlier.

"That's him.", Paige said.

Prue read the entry on the demon. "The Demon of Antipathy. _The Demon of Antipathy is a centuries old being who channels a person's feelings of anger or hatred into a green energy beam. He uses this energy to either strangle his victim or turn them into a murderous being bent on revenge. When used to enrage his victim, the individual only focuses on getting revenge against the object of their rage. The demon is elusive and only travels to areas where he senses great distress and hatred. He can be vanquished by the any means available to a powerful witch. Vanquishing this demon can help to cure his victims."_

"So, do you guys get a lot of demons like this?", Paige asked.

"Unfortunately, we do. But I wonder why he went after Natalie. She must really hate us. Or someone."

"It said he could be vanquished easily. So, there's that."

"True. Want to help me make a potion? Since we don't have control over our powers, we can make a basic vanquishing potion."

"Sounds good."

Paige and Prue walked downstairs to make the potion to vanquish the demon.

Meanwhile, Phoebe was talking with Bo.

"Phoebe, I'm sorry about Natalie. She shouldn't have said that to you."

"Bo, you really don't need to apologize for Natalie. I remember her fondly. And I mean that in the most sarcastic way possible. Its just that without Piper, I feel so lost. I never realized how much she grounded me. We always said that Prue was like our mom, but Piper was our heart. The house is a mess, Prue and I are fighting like we used to, and I have no idea how to make Paige feel at home. Piper would've been the perfect one to show her all of this."

"I think that you're trying to be the middle sister that Piper was. The thing is, you can only be you. Piper wouldn't have wanted you to be so hard on yourself. You have to give yourself time to heal and grieve. You lost your sister. That's something that you need time to process and deal with."

"Prue's been so distant lately. Most of the time, it feels like she has something to say, but she won't say it for some reason. I never know what to do or how to feel."

Bo, looking thoughtful, said, "Have you ever thought that maybe you're not the only one that feels lost without Piper?"

Phoebe looked at him in a confused manner.

"Piper was the heart of your family. And from what I've seen, Prue seems to have trouble expressing herself. Maybe without Piper, she doesn't know what to say or how to say it."

Phoebe thought back to when Andy died. Prue had no idea how to handle it. It was a prime example of how their bond as sisters saved them. Prue, as confident as she is, had no idea how to handle imperfection in herself. She felt that she was supposed to the strongest and the not show any emotion. It always took Phoebe and Piper together to ground Prue. Phoebe had no idea how she was going to do this without Piper, but she knew she had to try.

Suddenly, Cole shimmered in.

"Phoebe, I… Sorry, I didn't know you had company. I'll come back."

"No, she and I were just discussing strategies. You two go ahead and talk."

Bo orbed out of the room leaving only Cole and Phoebe. Cole could tell that there was something going on with Phoebe.

"Honey, what's wrong?", Cole asked as he pushed Phoebe's hair away from her face.

Phoebe leaned in and put her head on Cole's shoulder as she began to cry.

"I just don't know what to do. I don't have Piper , Leo left, and I feel like I'm losing Prue. I should be helping her teach Paige, but I don't have the energy. Cole, there's something that Prue is trying to tell me, but I can't get her to say it. I think she blames me for Piper's death."

"Phoebe, why would you say that?"

"She's always talking about how the choices we make affect us and everyone around us. I know there's something she wants to tell me, but she won't say it. I can't do this alone."

"You're never alone, and I want you to always remember that. I've loved you since the day that I met you. And no matter what Prue says or what she thinks, I know she loves you too. Whatever is going on with her, we'll get through it together."

Phoebe had never felt safer than when she was with Cole. She knew that he would literally go to hell and back for her. After all, he had done it before. She knew that whatever came their way, she could face it with him.

As they began to kiss passionately, they heard a loud bang come from downstairs.

"Prue!? Paige!?", Phoebe yelled as she ran downstairs.

When Phoebe arrived downstairs, she found Prue knocked out, and Paige being flung across the room. The demon was again holding Natalie up with his green energy. This time, however, he walked over to her and placed his glowing hand on her chest. Natalie temporarily glowed green, but then passed out. The demon looked over at Phoebe and Cole, then disappeared in the same green smoke as before.

"Bo!", Phoebe screamed.

Bo appeared and saw the scene before him. He immediately began to try and heal Prue and Natalie.

"What's wrong? Why isn't anything happening?!", Phoebe screamed. "They can't be dead. They can't be. I can't do this. Oh my God, I can't do this!"

Phoebe cried as she picked up Prue and begged her to wake up. She felt a pulse, and knew that Prue was alive. As she shook her to wake her up, Prue suddenly began to wake up.

"Thank God! Prue, I thought I had lost you.", Phoebe exclaimed as she hugged her sister. She was so scared that she was going to lose her as well.

"Why couldn't you heal them?", Paige asked Bo.

"I, uh, have no idea. I did just what Natalie told me to do."

Bo then helped Natalie up as she came to.

"Where's the demon?", she asked as she stood up.

"He left.", Phoebe responded. "What exactly happened?", she asked Prue, Natalie, and Bo.

Prue, holding her head, explained the situation. "Paige and I were telling Natalie what we read about the demon and suddenly, he appeared. Paige tried to freeze him, but she melted the lamp instead. Before I could even try to use my powers, he touched me with that freaky glowing hand of his. I don't really know what happened after that."

"I think we saw what happened after that. Paige, are you alright?", Phoebe asked.

"Other than a few scratches, bruises, and possible internal damage, I think I'm good."

"And are you alright, Bo?"

"Why would you ask Bo if he's alright?", Natalie asked in an accusatory tone.

"Well, he just seemed to be in shock. He tried to heal you and Prue, and he couldn't."

"Of course, he couldn't.", Natalie remarked. "He's still too inexperienced to be allowed to heal innocents."

"You couldn't have told him that before?", Prue asked. "Kinda seems like something he would need to know."

"Well excuse me for not being perfect and not doing everything to your liking!", Natalie screamed as she orbed out.

"Um, ok.", Prue said.

"Natalie is probably just upset that she couldn't help like she wanted to.", Bo defended.

"I'm glad everyone's alright.", Cole said.

"Yeah, I'll just bet you are.", Prue retorted.

"Prue. He's trying to be nice to you.", Phoebe said.

"Yeah, well. Anyway, come on Paige. We have to make a vanquishing potion for the demon."

Paige was still a bit startled from being thrown across the room, but even she could sense the tension in the room. She walked with Prue to the kitchen. Cole and Phoebe stared at each other with a puzzled look.

"He thinks he can just come in and make sure everyone is ok. Of course, he can. He's killed countless witches, but of course he cares about my wellbeing.", Prue ranted as she began making the potion. "All he has to do is flash a smile and pretend to care and she falls for it every time. No one can be that stupid."

Paige was obviously uncomfortable. She didn't really know them well enough to listen to complaints from one sister about another. She wasn't quite sure what to say. "I mean, I think he actually did care about how we were doing.", she responded.

"No, he cared about putting on a show for her. And she fell for it. Like she always does."

After what seemed like an eternity for Paige, Prue finished the extremely easy potion, and looked at Paige. "You know the worst part of all of this? He didn't care before, but now he does. Convenient."

"What do you mean by that?", Paige asked.

"Nothing. Let's just go vanquish the damn demon."

Paige stopped Prue. "I know I don't know you that well, and far be if from me to tell you how to feel or what to do. But I think you and Phoebe need to talk. Just kind of seems like you've got some stuff on your mind."

"You sound like Piper. But Piper's gone. They took her from me."

Paige and Prue walked into the attic and stopped when they saw Natalie pacing the floor at a furious pace while talking to herself.

"What's wrong with her?", Prue asked.

"We have no idea.", Bo responded. "We came up here and we found her like this."

Natalie was pacing back and forth murmuring so low under hear breath that it was hard to make out. Paige distinctly heard her say, "You're not worth them liking you." and "Of course they don't like you."

As they tried to talk to Natalie, it became more and more apparent that Natalie was not listening to them. Either that, or she was simply blocking them out. Suddenly, Natalie walked past a mirror, and it was almost as if hell had broken loose in the manor!

Natalie began to scream as she broke the mirror with her bare hands! Suddenly, a green light flashed from her hands. Just like the demon's powers earlier. She began to attack any reflective surface she could find! It was as if she was attacking herself!

"Paige, help me!", Phoebe called out as she started to grab crystals out of a box. "Put these in a circular pattern!"

The crystals glowed, and strings of bright white lights erupted from them and connected to form the crystal cage. The sisters had enclosed Natalie to protect her from hurting herself or them. Natalie seemed to be in a rage that could not be contained, but she was unable to escape the cage.

"Prue and I saw in the book that the demon makes you go after those that you feel the most rage against. So, does that mean she hates herself?", Paige asked.

"I have no idea. Prue, what do you think?", Phoebe asked.

After a moment of silence, they realized that Prue was no longer in the attic. Bo, Phoebe, Paige, and Cole went through the house wondering where Prue was.

Then they found her…..pacing the living room with the same look in her eyes that Natalie had.

"Prue. Sweetie, are you ok?", Phoebe asked as she walked towards Prue.

Prue squinted her eyes and sent Phoebe flying across the room. Then, she looked at Cole and waved her hand. A brilliant orange light came from her hand and sent Cole crashing through the wall under the stairs!

"Cole! Prue, what the hell is wrong with you?!", Phoebe shouted.

Prue looked at Phoebe and then back at Cole. It was almost as if she was trying to figure out which one of them she wanted to attack first. Suddenly, she lunged at Phoebe! Phoebe fought her sister and tried her hardest to land blows that wouldn't hurt her. Suddenly, Prue picked up a lamp and threw it at Phoebe, who was close to Paige. Paige threw her hands up and disappeared in white orbs. When she reappeared, not only was the lamp frozen in midair, but so was Prue.

"I thought you said good witches don't freeze.", she confusingly asked Phoebe.

"Whatever took her over is more powerful than her the witch in her right now."

Phoebe ran over to Cole and made sure he was alright. He began to wake up and saw Prue frozen in her tracks.

"What the hell just happened?"

"I think we finally figured out what Prue's mad at. I thought it was just one of us, but I think she's been keeping her feelings about both of us hidden."

"How long does this last?", Paige asked.

"It just depends. Sometimes, it can be a while, sometimes its quick. We have to figure something out before she…"

Prue unfroze and ran towards Cole and Phoebe, but she stopped. She began to look as if she was in pain. She was holding her head and moving from side to side as if she was trying to avoid a loud noise. Prue let out a horrible scream and then disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.

"So, what exactly just happened?", Paige asked.

"If I had to guess, I would say that the demon that did this just summoned her. If we can find her, the demon will probably be close. I'll get the crystal and we can scry for her."

"Scry?"

"Yeah. It's kind of like a magical LoJack.", Phoebe responded.

"That's cool and disturbing."

"So, why exactly would Prue hate you? I mean, you guys are going through a really rough time right now, so I would think that she would be leaning on you more than ever."

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out."

Phoebe and Paige got the crystal and used Prue's keys to scry with. The crystal spun in circles and then landed on an area downtown.

"Gotcha.", Phoebe said.

Cole, along with Paige and Phoebe, shimmered to the location where they found Prue. Prue was floating in the air while the demon absorbed the green energy that was surrounding Prue. As the trio appeared, the demon lost his grip on Prue.

As the demon tried to leave, Paige successfully froze the demon and seemed quite proud of herself for doing so.

Prue suddenly lunged and began to punch Phoebe with all her might!

"Throw the potion!", Phoebe yelled!

Paige threw the potion at the demon. He unfroze and began to yell as his body erupted into flame! As the demon exploded, Prue returned to her normal self and came to.

"Phoebe! I'm so sorry! Please tell me I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Physically, yes. But you also confused me."

"What do you mean?"

"Prue, that demon made people go after what they hate the most. I can only imagine why Natalie went after herself, but you went after me and Cole. Is there something I should know?"

"Let's just go home."

"NO PRUE!", Phoebe erupted. "We're not going to just go home. We're not going to just talk about it later. We're going to talk about it now! A demon was able to control you and you almost killed me and my boyfriend! We're going to talk about it now! What is your problem with me?!"

"Where was all of this when Piper died?!", Prue screamed! "Now that Piper's gone, you're all upset! But when I needed my sister, needed the Power of Three, you were nowhere to be found!"

"Are you serious? Are you really blaming our sister's death on me?"

Paige's social worker side stepped in to try and help her sisters. "Prue, I think you're angry because of what happened. You miss Piper and you're hurt. Understandably hurt. But don't take it out on Phoebe."

"Did she tell you, Paige? Did she tell you what happened? How Piper died? Of course not. Because she would have to tell you that she wasn't there!"

"I was in the underworld trying to save Cole! The Source detained us! He even stopped Leo from coming back up here! Piper knew that!"

"NO! TELL THE TRUTH!" As Prue screamed, objects in the room they were in began to fly everywhere. "When the Source reset time, you couldn't do anything because you were off trying to save your demon boyfriend! Our sister died because YOU HAD TO SAVE HIM!"

As Prue pointed to Cole, he went flying back into the wall behind him!

"You actually think that I abandoned you for Cole? I tried! I really tried to get back, Prue! But I was too late."

"It doesn't matter, Phoebe. You went down there and left us open to attack without the Power of Three. The Source kept you because you were there! And what's worse, Leo was there, WITH YOU! You left Piper and I to die, and we see where that got us!"

Phoebe, Paige, and Cole were taken aback by what Prue had just said. They couldn't believe that she had been keeping this in.

Prue walked away and left the others to look at each other in disbelief. Phoebe didn't know where to go from here, but she knew it wouldn't be a smooth ride. She felt like she had just lost another sister.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: A Circle Broken?**

"May I be seen, my liege?"

"You may."

The Oracle, surrounded by an orange glow, appeared on a stone slab, along with her crystal ball.

"Tell me", the Source said as he circled the Oracle and whispered closely in her ear, "have the Charmed Ones bonded as sisters yet? Need I fear the Power of Three?"

The Oracle gazed into her crystal ball and searched for images of the Charmed Ones.

"I see a broken heart", she whispered in a hushed tone, "a lost soul, and a home divided. The Charmed Ones are vulnerable, my liege."

"Excellent. The time is near. For their doom.", the Source said as he looked into the crystal ball ominously.

At the manor, Paige, Phoebe and Cole walked into the house with looks of shock still on their faces. Suddenly, Bo ran up to them.

"You must have gotten the demon!", he exclaimed excitedly.

"How'd you know?", Paige asked.

"Natalie turned back to normal. I was a little scared to let her out at first, but I could see in her eyes that it was her. And then I…Is everything alright?"

Bo noticed the glazed and distant look on Phoebe's face.

"No. Its not."

Phoebe sullenly walked away with Cole close behind her.

"So, do you want to tell me what that was about?", Bo asked Paige.

"From what I caught, Prue pretty much blames Phoebe and Cole for Piper dying."

"What?! Really?!"

"Yeah, she said that if Phoebe hadn't been trying to save Cole, Piper would still be alive because the Source wouldn't have had such a clear shot at them."

"Wow."

"I'm just not clear on what actually happened. All I know is that the Source apparently reset time and Phoebe was still in the underworld."

"All I really know is that all 3 of your sisters came to get me. Phoebe went upstairs, and she didn't come back down. That's all I really remember."

Paige didn't know what to do. She didn't know whether she needed to go after Phoebe and help her deal with this, or if she needed to talk to Prue and get more information. Then again, maybe she should stay out of the conflict. She was used to having to get information and assess the situation, but it was different this time. This wasn't a foster care case she was working, this was her family. She wasn't used to sisterly issues and she wasn't sure if the issues would work themselves out or if they would tear her newfound family apart.

"So, do you think I need to talk to one of them?", Paige asked Bo.

"I…have no idea."

Bo was having issues with this himself. He had been an only child as well and had lived much of his life focused on himself. He had come to find peace in his afterlife as a whitelighter, but he was new to the family dynamic. He was trying to appear confident, but he was still learning.

"Maybe you should ask Natalie?", he said with a look of pure confusion.

"I think Natalie is dealing with her own stuff right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. I just mean with the demon earlier."

"Oh. I think she's doing better now. Why don't you go up and talk to her."

Paige went to the attic and found Natalie staring out of a window.

"Natalie."

Natalie turned around and was startled by Paige's presence.

"You ok?", Paige asked.

"Of course. I see you girls got the demon."

"We did. But I think we have a bigger problem now."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Prue thinks that Phoebe and Cole are the reason that Piper died. Basically, Prue thinks that Phoebe gave the Source a perfect opportunity to get them. Now, they're fighting, and I don't know what to do. I mean, I don't know whether I should get involved or just let them figure it out themselves."

"I think it would be best to let them work this out. You three are sisters, but some things must work themselves out. They'll get through this."

"Wow. Do you have any siblings?"

"A sister. Her name was Janice."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"What do you mean?"

"You said "was". So, I just assumed…"

"She's still alive. A whitelighter is not allowed to talk to anyone from his or her mortal life. She'd be in her 80s now."

"How do you stop yourself from going to see her?"

"Its against the rules. That's all I need to know."

"You like rules, don't you?", Paige asked somewhat hesitantly.

"Rules exist for a reason. Without them, we'd all be running around like cavepeople with no order in our lives. Rules keep everything running smooth."

"Natalie, can I ask you something?"

"You girls love questions. Go ahead."

"That demon from earlier could make people go after the person or thing they hate most. Prue went after Cole and Phoebe because she blames them for Piper's death."

"And….?"

"Well, Prue went after someone else. You, well, went after yourself. You were breaking mirrors and you kept saying these horrible things about yourself like you were another person."

"The demon's powers must have affected me differently because I'm a whitelighter. That, or he was able to choose who he wanted the person to hate."

"Natalie, its ok to have insecurities. We all have them. I just worry about you because yours were almost used to kill you. We didn't know if you were going to try and hurt yourself or just what."

"This isn't an appropriate conversation for a whitelighter and their charge." Natalie tried to walk away, but Paige stood in front of her.

"Look, far be it from me to impose on the inner workings of your mind, but I think we need to stick together. We're in the same boat."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm new to this whole witch thing. I don't really think Prue and Phoebe like me, they just tolerate me because they have to. I get the feeling that you feel the same way."

Natalie looked thoughtful and paced the room. She sat on an old couch the sisters had in the attic.

"Natalie, you don't have to hold it in."

"When I was alive, life was hard. Being a plus size woman then wasn't the "in" thing. My sister was a beautiful, blond bombshell. I was the fat redhead sister that people looked over. I was so unhappy. So, I dedicated my life to helping others because I wanted to make sure that everyone I met had a chance to live a good long life and be happier than I was."

Natalie stood up and walked to the window. "I heard someone say there was a bomb. I could've moved, but I didn't. I couldn't move. Its like I was frozen. When the bomb went off, everything went black. I saw a light, and for one brief second, I felt happier than I've ever felt. I was so relieved because it was finally over. But in the blink of an eye, I was back. I didn't know if it was a dream or if I was in hell. Those were the only things I could imagine. Then an elder came to me and told me I had been chosen to be a whitelighter because of my good deeds in life. I cried and cried. He didn't understand why."

"But that was a good thing right? Your selflessness in life gave you the chance to be a guardian angel.", Paige asked.

"It didn't feel like a reward.", Natalie stated as she turned to Paige. "It felt like a punishment. Now I was not only alive again, but was immortal. Stuck like this for eternity."

Natalie's eyes widened.

"What's wrong?", Paige asked.

"I have no idea why I'm telling you all of this. You are a charge, not a friend. My personal history is just that, personal."

Paige got up and moved towards Natalie. As Paige wrapped her arms around Natalie to give her a hug, Natalie began to cry profusely.

"You're hurting. And after everything you've just shared with me, I can see why. Natalie, you didn't share with me because there's something wrong with you. You shared with me because even though you're an angel, you still have human emotions. I think this demon brought up a lot of issues with you and you need to get them out."

"You just seem so easy to talk to."

Paige had always been told that. It was part of why she got into social work. She always felt drawn to people and now she was wondering if her magical destiny was also a part of why she had always felt the need to help others.

"You're not alone Natalie. I know we may not be friends, but I can be someone to listen to you."

Natalie didn't know what to say. No one had ever taken her seriously. She had always felt like a joke and thought the only way to get respect was by being tough. But she looked at her young charge and thought that maybe that could change.

"Phoebe, are you alright?", Cole asked as he moved towards Phoebe who was lying on the bed.

"No. I'm not. My sister hates me and my other sister now thinks I'm the reason our other sister is dead."

"I'm pretty sure Paige knows you didn't kill Piper."

Phoebe sits up in the bed slowly and lays her head on Cole's shoulder. "What if Prue is right? What if I am the reason Piper is gone?"

"Phoebe. We both know that's not true."

"Cole, Leo wasn't there to heal Piper because he was stuck in the Underworld with us. I was stuck in the Underworld because all I wanted was to save you."

Cole leaned away from Phoebe and looked puzzled.

"So you think this was all my fault?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying."

"Yes, actually, it is. If you hadn't been in the Underworld to save me, you would've been able to save your sister. That's what you're saying."

"Cole…."

"Phoebe if that's how you feel, just say it."

"I DON'T KNOW HOW I FEEL!", Phoebe screamed. "Prue hates me because she thinks I left her and Piper to die. And until she said that, I didn't realize what I had done that cost my sister her life. Cole, I don't know what to do with that right now."

Cole slightly moved and looked into Phoebe's eyes. "Phoebe. I know there's nothing I can say right now that will help with any of this. But you need to need to know that nothing you did caused Piper's death. Piper died doing what she spent every day doing: protecting the innocent."

"That doesn't make it any easier. She risked her life every day and I wasn't there for her when she needed me the most. I let my sisters down."

Phoebe and Cole laid on the bed as Phoebe began to cry.

Prue was driving and didn't know where she was going. Eventually she found herself at the same bridge she had been at years ago. She had taken her strength back by fighting the darklighter a few years ago, but the bridge still had the same meaning. It was still a place that held many sad memories and feelings for her. She walked towards to the top of the bridge and looked out onto the traffic. The world was still moving, and people were still living their lives. But she felt like she was holding her breath. Every moment was like torture and she felt like she was just trying to make it moment to moment. She didn't know what to do or which way to turn.

"Prue.", a male voice whispered.

Prue turned around fully prepared to protect herself from whatever force of evil was stalking her. As she turned with her hand in the air ready to send her foe flying, she was stunned at the person before her.

"Leo."

Prue embraced her former brother-in-law and former whitelighter. She had missed him and the guidance she got from him.

"What're you doing here?", Prue asked Leo.

"Same thing you are."

Prue and Leo both leaned against the railing. Prue looked at Leo as he looked out onto the moving traffic.

"They won't let me see her."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, but every time I try to talk to her, they stop me. Its like they decided to keep us apart now since they couldn't when Piper was alive."

"But why would they do that? They're the ones who allowed you guys to get married in the first place."

"I don't have an explanation. But its killing me. I feel like I can't breathe."

"I know the feeling."

"How are things going at the manor? How is it with Paige?

"I don't know. I left."

"What happened?"

"I couldn't stay there anymore. We went up against a demon that made us fight the thing we hated most. And…..I went after Phoebe."

"Why would you go after her?"

"Its not worth rehashing."

Prue walked a few steps away and put her hand on her head. She had a pounding headache just thinking about everything.

"Well, you attacked your sister and you're standing on a bridge that you thought about using to commit suicide a few years ago. So I think it is worth rehashing."

"The demon made me think Phoebe was responsible for Piper dying."

Leo was visibly shaken, but was not quite as shaken as Prue would've thought. He pulled away from the railing and began pacing.

"I know Leo. Its crazy. I've hated myself for even thinking it."

"It's not that crazy."

Prue was taken aback and didn't know what to say. "What do you mean?"

"Prue, a lot of the reason I had to resign as your whitelighter was because I felt the same exact way. If Phoebe hadn't been chasing Cole, I never would've been down there. If I hadn't been down there, I could've healed you and Piper earlier." Leo's mouth snarled in a sneer, "She IS the reason my wife is dead."

"Leo. I-", Prue started. But she didn't know what to say. She couldn't soothe Leo's thoughts because she felt the same way herself.

"See. You can't even fight me because you know its true. Prue, I came to say goodbye."

"Goodbye? Leo, where are you going?"

"I'm clipping my wings."

"LEO! NO! You're an amazing whitelighter and Piper wouldn't want this for you. Think about all the people you're meant to help."

"Neither of us know what Piper would want. And we can't ask her. Besides, I can't face an eternity without her. I can't spend centuries watching over witches that I know will eventually die. And I'm sure as hell not going to watch families grow and expand after knowing what I lost."

"Leo. That's exactly what Sam did. And look where it got him."

"Yeah. It got him back to Patty."

Prue was completely speechless. She hadn't thought of that. She only saw the continuing cycle of death that surrounded them.

"Please don't tell me you're thinking of hurting yourself."

"If I did, I wouldn't be able to see her. So you don't have to worry about that."

Prue was relieved, but felt even more sad at the prospect of losing Leo.

"Where will you go?", she asked.

"I don't know yet. Not San Francisco though. There are too many memories here."

Leo turned to face Prue and embraced her.

"Goodbye Prue. I'm sorry I couldn't do more as your whitelighter."

"Leo don't you dare apologize to me. You've done nothing but be there for us. And no matter where you go, I don't want you to forget that you'll always be family. You're welcome in our home anytime."

Holding back tears, Leo nodded his head and disappeared in a swirl of white orbs.

Prue stood stunned for a second. She wasn't sure what to do now, but she knew she didn't need to be alone. Never one to run from her fears, she knew there was only one place to go. The place that was the emptiest to her at the moment: home.

"I don't know where she is. I've tried calling her cell and she's not answering. God, I hope she's ok.", Phoebe said as she paced the living room. It had been hours since their big blow up. She wasn't sure what she would say to her sister, but she needed to see her. She couldn't bear the thought of losing another sister.

"I'm sure she's ok.", Paige said. "She's probably just out taking a walk or at a movie."

"Or maybe she's out hunting more demons.", Cole replied sarcastically.

Everyone looked at him. He apologized knowing this wasn't the right time.

"Natalie, can you sense her?"

"I can definitely try."

Before Natalie could begin using her powers, Prue walked through the door and put her keys on the table.

Phoebe ran to her sister.

"Prue! Thank God!", she exclaimed as she hugged her sister. "I had no idea where you were and I was so worried."

"I'm sorry. I just needed time to think."

"Its ok. I'm just glad you're safe."

Paige looked around and then focused in on Prue who looked like she had been through hell.

"Hey. Natalie, Cole, Bo, do you guys think you could show me around the Book of Shadows? I've been meaning to thumb through it, but I haven't really had the chance."

Cole was perplexed. "You want all 3 of us to help you? I don't even think I can touch the…Ohhhh. Yeah, I think that would be a great idea."

"Why would it take all of us?", Natalie asked.

"Just come on.", Bo stated as he pushed Natalie up the stairs with the remainder of the gang.

Phoebe turned to Prue and gently rubbed her face.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm not fine actually. Phoebe, that demon made me face a lot of things and I don't really know what to say."

"I gathered that from you trying to kill us earlier."

"I'm so sorry Pheebs. I just…I miss her so much."

"Well, I do too sweetie, but I didn't try to throw you across a room. I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to know I'll love you no matter what the answer is. Do you really blame me and Cole for Piper's death?"

Prue sat down on the couch and rubbed her hands through her hair.

"Truthfully? Yes."

Phoebe knew that would be the answer, but it still knocked her back a little.

"Prue, how could you even think that?"

Prue grabbed her sister's hands.

"Phoebe. You and Cole have a love that was rooted in lies. I know you don't want to hear that, but you asked me to tell you what I think. And me keeping in how I feel almost got us killed today. When I look at you and Cole, I see one disaster after another. He lied to get close to you so he could kill us. You lied about vanquishing him so you could protect him. And that day, I just feel like if you hadn't been down there, it would've been different."

Phoebe snatched her hands away from her sister. "You and Piper were the ones that decided to run out into the street to chase a demon Prue."

"What?"

Phoebe had forgotten that Prue lost her memories of that day when time reset itself. She retained her memories because she had been in the underworld at the time.

"When Shax originally attacked, you and Piper chased him out in the streets. When you did, a news crew caught everything on camera. That's how everything got started. That's why times had to be reset in the first place."

"Be that as it may. When time reset, you weren't there. And where were you? Trapped in the underworld with Cole and Leo. If you hadn't been there, you would've reset just like us. But you were trying to save Cole. So you couldn't help us. And of course Leo was tied up down there with you. If you hadn't been trying so hard to save Belthazor, Piper might be alive right now. But she's not. Cole is here, but our sister is gone."

"I have explained a million times that I was trying to save him because I love him, Prue. I know that what I did wasn't the smartest decision. But I truly love him and I knew that good magic would be the key to saving him."

"Saving him at all costs right?"

"How can you even say all of this to me? It is killing me to think that I may have caused Piper's death or at least facilitated it. You've been so caught up in your own grieving that you don't see the rest of us are hurting."

"Because unlike everyone else, I have to keep this family together! Just like I've always done! Except now, I don't have Piper. I don't have anyone to keep my rational or show me what I'm doing wrong. I've lost her and I don't' know what to do!"

"How do you think I feel Prue?! Piper was my rock. She was the one who gave me the strength to fight for myself. Even when I didn't believe in me, she did. No one else has felt that way about me besides Cole."

"That's not true Pheebs and you know it.:

"Prue we didn't talk for months because you thought that I touched your fiancée. Then when we got our powers, it was so shocking to you that I could see the future because you didn't think I even had one."

"We were different people back then."

"No. We just didn't try to hide how we really felt. But Piper was always trying. She always knew what to say.:

Prue and Phoebe looked at one another with pained expressions.

"Where do we go from here?", Phoebe asked.

"I don't know. But I know I love you and I'm not going to lose my sister over it. I love you Phoebe. I'm sorry I don't always show it in the best ways. I just feel so lost."

Phoebe hugged her sister.

"I feel the same way. But we can't lose sight of what's important. We have a family Prue. And no matter what we're going through, we'll always be family. Always."

The two women began to cry on each other's shoulders. They didn't know what the next step was, but they knew that they had to handle it together.


End file.
